Assessment of Herbal Plant Biofuel Pellet Quality Indicators

Abstract

Variety of vegetable raw materials is used for energetic needs: logging and wood processing waste, agricultural production byproducts: straws as well as specially cultivated trees, tall grass, rapeseeds, triticale and other herbaceous plants. In the performed scientific work, preparation and opportunities of use of energetic needs are estimated for non-conventional energy plants (elephant grass, orchard grass, common mugwort and fibrous nettle), technological parameters of processing these seeds and pressing into granules are explored, biometric and physic-mechanical properties of finished pellets are evaluated, and their resistance to impact forces is evaluate. Having examined humidity of pellets, it was found that maximum moisture content was in pellets of elephant grass and nettle -from 13.1 to 13.2%, while the smallest -in orchard grass pellets 10.0%. The largest density of non-conventional energetic pellet density was orchard -983.8 kg m -3 DM (dry matter) and common mugwort -926.7 kg m -3 DM, and density of elephant grass pellets was the lowest -619.3 kg m -3 DM. Results on resistance to deformability of non-conventional energetic crops granules indicate that the highest resistance against external forces is a pellet made of common mugwort: they decompose to 110.03 N force. Pellets of other plants disintegrate to smaller external force: fibrous nettle granules -to 90.6 N, orchard -to 67.3 N force. Elephant grass pellets have the smallest resistance to deformation and decompose more quickly (at 20 N). The research results show that pellets made of elephant grass are of the lowest quality; due to this, it is not recommended to use these plants in the form of pellets.