ASSESSMENT OF QUALITY AND ENERGY OF SOLID BIOFUEL PRODUCTION

M. Szymanek, A. Kraszkiewicz, I. Niedziółka, B. Zaklika, M. Szpryngiel, M. Kachel-Jakubowska

Abstract: The work presents an assessment of the quality and specific energy of solid biofuels from selected plant materials. Their production used wheat straw, rye straw, maize straw, rape straw, and meadow hay. The plant materials were ground with a stationary barrel grinder at the theoretical cutting length of 20 mm prior to briquetting, and with a hammer grinder equipped with riddles with a hole which diameter is of 8 mm prior to form into pellets. The moisture of the compacted raw materials was determined by the scale-dryer method, and their calorific value was determined with the KL-12Mn calorimeter. The agglomeration of the plant materials involved a pellet press with a fixed single-sided flat matrix powered by compacting rolls, and a spiral briquette press with a heated compacting chamber. The conducted research covered the measurements of the mechanical durability and specific energy in the agglomeration of the applied plant materials. The obtained results of the tests of the quality and specific energy of biofuel production were subject to statistical analysis.

Keywords: mechanical durability; solid biofuel; specific energy

Date published: 2017-09-13