The Effect of Different Khaya Senegalensis Raw Feedstock Particle Sizes On Solid Fuel Pellet Quality

Abstract

In recent years, the usage and demand for biomass pellet has been increasing due to the need of substitution for non-renewable energy source. Therefore, high quality solid fuel is in need to cater this demand. Pellet qualities such as durability, calorific value and density are different depending on the type of material, size of particle and the density of the feedstock. In this study, the durability, calorific value and unit density of Khaya Senegalensis pellet was investigated. This was done to identify the optimum particle size to obtain the best qualities of pellet possible. The ground biomass material was separated into 0.15 mm, 0.50 mm and 1.00 mm particle sizes, pelletized and ultimately the pellet durability, calorific value and unit density were tested in this study. It was found that 0.15 mm particle size resulted in the highest pellet durability, and density value. 1.00 mm particle size pellet has the highest calorific value. As a conclusion, different raw biomass feedstock particle size will affect the durability, density and calorific value of pellet.

Optimization of Fuel Pellet Parameter from Oil Palm Fronds by using Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

“…The study by [7] investigated the effects of biomass moisture content (MC=14-20%) and pelletization temperature (T=50-80 °C) on lower heating value (LHV) and energy density, pine sawdust pellet quality using response surface methodology. In this particular study, the results obtained are consistent with the values of calorific value gained from [17], which showed that the calorific value ranges from 15.222 MJ/kg to 16.503 MJ/kg from different particle sizes.…”

“…Water plays a crucial role in the pelletizing process, acting as both a lubricant and a binding agent for the pellet [3,4]. Smaller particles have smaller gaps between them, whereas larger particles have larger gaps, making the smaller particles stronger than the larger particles [5,6]. Therefore, the primary objective of this research was to assess the effect of particle size and moisture content on the quality of fuel pellets.…”