Review on Self-Heating of Biomass Materials: Understanding and Description

Abstract

Storage of bulk biomass materials is essential along the feedstock supply chain of bioenergy production. The self-heating accompanying biomass storage has hazardous consequences. With the increasing biomass utilization for bioenergy production, the risk and economic and environmental concerns about biomass storage have been attracting extensive research attention aimed at understanding the processes of heat generation, evaluating the propensity of a material to self-heating and spontaneous ignition, describing and predicting the self-heating process and consequences in biomass storage, and developing strategies and technologies for storage management. The advances in the understanding and description of heat generation processes including water-associated physical processes, microbiological degradation processes, and chemical oxidative processes during the self-heating in biomass storage are reviewed, with the focus on understanding the processes and their underlying mechanisms, reaction kinetics, and heats of reaction through experimental studies and description of heat generation and self-heating processes through kinetic analyses and modeling. This review highlights the need to improve the mechanistic model description of the self-heating processes and associated material changes and product formation, which demand a better understanding and description of microbial degradation and chemical oxidation through experimental study.

Chemical and microbial characterization of sugarcane mill mud for soil applications

“…Rattanachomsrim, however, reported that Firmicutes were abundant in 3-month-old bagasse whose temperature was ~50°C. This suggests that the latter was still in the thermophilic phase of composting [ 29 , 30 ], which is consistent with the work of Gebbie et al who recently reported resampling the same undisturbed bagasse pile (~ 8 months apart) at multiple depths [ 26 ]. Not surprisingly, they found differences in both bacterial and fungal communities with depth and time.…”

A Critical Outlook on Lignocellulosic Biomass and Plastics Co-Gasification: A Mini-Review

“…Different authors recommended up to 15% moisture for most biomass to maintain a stable process since feedstocks with high moisture reduce the temperature of the reactor and slow down some endothermic reactions. 6 In addition, feedstocks with high moisture contents might cause fluidization issues in fluidizedbed reactors and large coking due to temperature oscillations within the gasifier caused by a high moisture content. 102 Therefore, biomass should be dried to a specified technological limit to enhance the energy output of biomass−plastic cogasification.…”

“…Excessive moisture content typically decreases process efficiency while increasing tar production. Different authors recommended up to 15% moisture for most biomass to maintain a stable process since feedstocks with high moisture reduce the temperature of the reactor and slow down some endothermic reactions . In addition, feedstocks with high moisture contents might cause fluidization issues in fluidized-bed reactors and large coking due to temperature oscillations within the gasifier caused by a high moisture content .…”

“…5 Biomass (a sustainable energy source) is derived from living (or recently lived) species, such as grasses, crops, plants, trees, animal manure, and municipal waste. 6 Five fundamental components distinguish the various kinds of biomass found in nature: hemicellulose, cellulose, lignin, extractives/volatiles, and ash. 7 The vast majority (nearly 50%) of the biomass is lignocellulosic in structural composition.…”

A supramolecular approach for converting renewable biomass into functional materials

“…Most biomass raw materials have two typical structural features: (a) versatile and repeated polar units and (b) ubiquitous inter/intramolecular hydrogen bonds. 27–29 These natural assembly characteristics in biomass structures have been mimicked and used to construct artificial systems, with polar monomers and hydrogen bonding as the building blocks and driving force, respectively. 30,31 The obtained progresses inspired and encouraged us to convert biomass into functional materials via a supramolecular approach.…”