木質系粉砕物燃料の前処理工程(粉砕・乾燥・半炭化改質)および輸送におけるエネルギー消費量の低減

Abstract

In recent years, much attention has been focused on the energy utilization of biomass to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas. Especially, woody biomass such as the forestry biomass derived from logging and thinning operations in forests is one of the most promising domestic resources in Japan. Woody biomass contributes not only to the improvement of energy self-sufficiency in Japan, but also to the environmental protection of Japanese forests. When the woody biomass is utilized, it is necessary to examine the energy consumption for collection of resources, pretreatment, transportation and after-treatment. In the present study, woody biomass is assumed to be utilized as pulverized wood fuel in local area. The pretreatment of pulverized wood fuel is consisted of three procedures; drying, semi-carbonizaion and fine comminution. The main purpose of the study is to investigate the comminution characteristic of the Japanese cedar thinning and the reduction in energy consumption for pretreatment process and transportation of pulverized wood fuel. The results obtained in the present study are as follows. (1) Comminution energy increases as the water content increases and the sieve of screen becomes small. The comminution energy of hammer mill is largely affected by the water content. Difference in comminution energy between the hammer and cutter mills is large. The ratio of comminution energy of the hammer mill to that of the cutter mill exceeds 10 for the water content of 40% and sieve of screen of 3mm. (2) To estimate the comminution energy of woody biomass, empirical equations of work index in Bond's Law are presented. In woody biomass region, the empirical equations of work index depend on the comminution method. In semi-carbonization and carbonization regions, the empirical equation of work index is presented regardless of comminution method and sieve of screen. The comminution energy can be estimated by using the present empirical equations within accuracy ±50 percent. (3) Analysis of energy consumption for the pretreatment process and transportation is conducted by using the present empirical equations of work index. From the result of analysis, it is found that the semi-carbonization at a temperature of 250 degree C is effective to the reduction in total energy consumption, when the pulverized wood fuel of 300 microns or less in particle size is utilized.