Abstract
Agropellets are presented as a suitable product to be produced in certain agro-industries which could become Integrated Biomass Logistic Centres (IBLC) by taking advantage of its current resources during those periods in which their facilities are underused. Wheat straw and maize stalk were selected to be blended with forestry wood in an agro-industry dedicated to animal feed production. The materials were characterized to assess the quality of the input material. Taking into account the former, different pellets (blends of woody and herbaceous biomass) were produced and tested in a fixed bed reactor in order to study their combustion behaviour. Additionally, several predictive indexes were also calculated to assess sintering and deposition occurrence probability. Ash sintering degree was found to be directly related to composition and highly dependent on Si content. Moreover, an increase of the wood content in the blend did not proportionally imply a higher quality of the final blend, as would be expected. Regarding deposition, due to the high number of factors involved in this phenomenon, it has not been possible to draw clear conclusions. To do this, it was necessary to delve into the deposition mechanisms, which is addressed in the second part of this paper. Thus, despite the appearance of sintering and deposition phenomena, the combustion behaviour was satisfactory in the test carried out. Additionally, it has been demonstrated that agro-industries can act as IBLCs, producing blended pellet for the energy market that aligns with the standard ISO 17225-6.
Highlights
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutralNowadays, agro-industries are facing several barriers that hinder their competitiveness, such as their seasonal nature which implies long or even non-existing activity periods, and the underutilization of opportunities, such as the exploitation of their own residues or those from nearby areas in order to create a new business line
Among the demo sites developed in AGROinLOG project, this paper presents results from a fodder industry in which agropellets were produced
The starting point of the analysis was to evaluate the available residual agricultural biomass from the surrounding area where the Integrated Biomass Logistic Centres (IBLC) is located. This is the reason why wheat straw and maize stalk were selected to develop blended pellets, together with forestry wood. These blended pellets were classified in two families
Summary
Agro-industries are facing several barriers that hinder their competitiveness, such as their seasonal nature which implies long or even non-existing activity periods, and the underutilization of opportunities, such as the exploitation of their own residues or those from nearby areas in order to create a new business line In this context, AGROinLOG project [1] focuses on their transformation into Integrated Biomass Logistic Centres (IBLC). Which makes it necessary to test new biofuels Their production took place during the fodder industry “low activity period”, taking advantage of their contact network and a low investment required due to the already available means (machinery, staff, etc.). The characteristics of the solid fraction affecting conversion in the bed may cause sintering in the grate, worsening efficiency and emissions Regarding volatilization mechanisms, these mainly are related to alkalis, since they are responsible for corrosion and erosion of heat transfer surfaces. The ultimate goal is to assess barriers and opportunities in-depth to efficiently burn the selected agropellets in a grate boiler for energy purposes
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