Characterization of Biobriquettes Produced from Vineyard Wastes as a Solid Biofuel Resource

Lacrimioara Senila,Oana Cadar,Daniela Alexandra Scurtu,Petru Carlescu,Eniko Kovacs,Marin Senila,Cecilia Roman,Ioan Tenu,Marius Roman,Diana Elena Dumitras

doi:10.3390/agriculture12030341

Abstract

The large amount of biomass waste generated by vineyard pruning causes many environmental concerns. The production of briquettes represents an alternative to obtaining a value-added product. The transformation of vineyard wastes into briquettes could produce a densified product having high energy potential. The study investigates the production and chemical, structural, and thermal characterization of briquettes. The thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) shows that the briquettes have different stages of decomposition depending on temperature, such as drying, heating, devolatilization, and char aggregation. All the briquettes are decomposed around 600 °C. The analysis by X-ray diffraction (XRD) shows the crystallinity of briquettes. The pollutant emissions resulted from briquettes burning were measured as 444.7 mg N−1m−1 nitrogen oxide (NOX), 157.0 mg N−1m−1 sulphur dioxide (SO2) and 2165.0 mg N−1m−1 carbon monoxide (CO). The flue gases are below the admitted limits, with the exception of carbon monoxide content due to the incomplete combustion and high lignin content. Therefore, it can be concluded that briquettes produced from vineyard wastes have similar properties to briquettes produced from wood. This study demonstrates the potential of the obtained briquettes to replace the wood or charcoal through a desulphurization method.

Highlights

The use of renewable raw materials, especially waste and by-products, has become increasingly important
The conducted study shows that vineyard wastes can be converted into good quality briquettes
Solid briquettes from vineyard wastes represent a cleaner energy alternative, considering the large amount of waste produced annually and the possibility to mitigate the reduction of CO2 emissions and promote its production

Summary

Introduction

The use of renewable raw materials, especially waste and by-products, has become increasingly important. The valorification of agricultural residues is extremely important in energy production and utilization of biomass as alternative energy source [1,2]. The interest for the conversion of vineyard biomass into thermal/electrical energy comes from the fact that it represents a valuable and renewable source, and because it offers various advantages in terms of development and environmental protection. The use of renewable sources is a necessity of the present and future civilizations, biomass being an important raw material to ensure the necessary energy. Biomass requirements have steadily increased in the heating, energy, and transportation sectors, with the evolution of the densified solid biofuel production sector. The interest in fuel briquetting increased due to opportunities to use the agricultural wastes and their transformation into solid fuel [3,4]

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