Abstract
Thermal treatments such as torrefaction and fast pyrolysis are commonly employed methods to produce biofuels with high-energetic properties. In this study, wood chips were heat-treated at different temperatures of torrefaction (315 °C) and fast pyrolysis (400 and 454 °C) to form energetic pellets. Three softwoods, jack pine (JP), balsam fir (BF), and black spruce (BS), were evaluated. Pellets are produced using 20% moisture content and 15% pyrolytic lignin as a binder. Untreated- and treated-wood residues were characterized by surface chemistry, elemental analysis, and chemical composition, whereas all pellets were characterized in terms of density, high heat value (HHV), and durability. Results showed that both thermal treatments caused significant changes in the physicochemical structure of wood residues. Using temperatures higher than 315 °C leads to the disappearance of hydroxyl groups, a decrease in oxygen and hydrogen contents, and an increase in carbon content. Regardless of the treatment temperature, pellets made from heat-treated JP had the best durability (93%). In contrast, the calorific values of wood-treated pellets reached up to 31 MJ/kg, compared to untreated-wood pellets (19 MJ/kg). Thus, the densification of the thermal-treated wood residues represents a potential approach for producing biofuels with high energetic value.
Highlights
Wood chips generated by sawmills represent the principal raw materials for the pulp and paper industry in Québec
Wood chips are suitable for various products such as particleboard, oriented strand board, wood pellets, wood composites, and wood-based bioenergy
They pass from the dryer to the conditioning to the thermal treatment unit based on gravity through an aspiration process
Summary
Wood chips generated by sawmills represent the principal raw materials for the pulp and paper industry in Québec. The decrease in demand for newsprint and other paper grades led to a surplus of wood chips. The chip consumption by the pulp industry decreased from 6293 to 4825 anhydrous metric tons during 2007 and 2017, respectively [1]. Since biomass is one of the world’s largest energy resources, bioenergy produced by wood residues could be a viable alternative to replace fossil fuels such as coal. It can reduce the world’s dependence on natural gas and petroleum products and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and environmental pollution [2]
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