AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF BIOMASS FUEL MADE BY A COMBINATION OF SUGARCANE BAGASSE, SAWDUST AND PAPER WASTE

Abstract

For making biomass fuel i.e. for making alternative fuel for coal or other conventional sources of energy it is important to find certain parameters. Calorific value is the most important property of a fuel whereas moisture content, ash content also significantly affects the performance of fuel. Here, the work focuses on making a biomass fuel with the combination of three materials i.e. sugarcane bagasse, sawdust and paper waste. These raw materials are selected on the basis of their calorific value, ash content, moisture content, easy availability and its cost. In sugar mills, major by product is sugarcane bagasse and therefore we used 50-60% of sugarcane bagasse for making fuel, paper waste is easily available and also its property is that it increases the calorific value if it is used 10-20% and if it is further increased then calorific value starts decreasing, sawdust is used 20-40% . Its calorific value is also high. MINITAB SOFTWARE is used for the design of experiment. Moisture content is determined with the help of DIGITAL MOISTURE ANALYZER. Ash content is determined by using ELECTRIC COIL HEATER and MUFFLE FURNACE. Calorific value is calculated by using MODIFIED DULONG FORMULA. From tests it is obtained that moisture content is between 8%-12%, ash content is in the range of 4%-8% and calorific value is between 2800 Kcal/kg – 3000 Kcal/kg. Now this fuel is compared with coal. The main point of view for making this bio fuel is that it can be efficiently used for co generation with coal which results in less consumption of conventional fuels which will have large no. of benefits like first and foremost is that coal is conventional and non renewable source of energy so its consumption will be reduced, pollution will be less, emissions of GHG like SOX, NOX, CO2 will be reduced, cost of plant is reduced, ash content is the main drawback of thermal plants, handling of ash is very big problem of thermal power plants and if 50% use of coal is reduced then ash is reduced and last raw materials will be used efficiently.