Abstract
The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in the characteristics of Eucalyptus spp. from Paraiba Valley region, Sao Paulo - Brazil after torrification process. Torrification is a thermochemical process that occurs at temperatures lower than the pyrolysis process as a pretreatment to improve biomass characteristics for use as biofuel energy in power generation. An experimental study was carried out in a batch reactor at three temperatures (240 °C, 260 °C and 280 °C) with residence time of 30 and 60 minutes. At the indicated operating conditions by elemental analysis, higher heating value and thermogravimetric analysis were evaluated. Result showed that there was a reduction in the oxygen/carbon (O/C) and hydrogen/carbon (H/C) ratios, causing an increase in the thermal energy quality of torrified wood, about of 28 % and 47 % at temperatures of 260 °C with residence time of 60 minutes and 280 °C with 30 minutes, respectively. A thermogravimetric analysis showed that at 260 °C the hemicellulose was almost completely degraded leaving the fuel in better conditions for combustion or gasification processes
Highlights
The use of biomass for power generation has attracted the attention of several countries and researchers
The raw wood (w) used for torrefaction was Eucalyptus spp., in the form of chips with approximately 10 x 20 mm2 after industrial chopper, with 15 % moisture content; the raw wood was dried at 100 oC ± 5 °C for 24 hours aiming at a uniform moisture content of the samples. 300 g samples were used for each torrefaction reaction at temperatures of 240 °C, 260 °C and 280 °C with residence time of 30 and 60 minutes (Romão et al 2016), in a batch reactor at Lorena School of Engineering laboratory, São Paulo, Brazil
During the torrefaction process changes occur in the main components of biomass due to the increase in temperature, initially affecting hemicellulose and, subsequently, cellulose and lignin
Summary
The use of biomass for power generation has attracted the attention of several countries and researchers. This is because biomass is a renewable resource and can be used in some processes to replace fossil resources (Sami et al 2001). In Brazil, biomass has been used for energy generation through the combustion process, being sugarcane bagasse, firewood and charcoal widely used. Wood has a higher preference over because it contains more energy, has a higher yield per area and is considered a neutral biomass, that is it has a closed cycle in CO2 generation (Van der Stelt et al 2011, Arias et al 2008), reducing environmental pollution and the greenhouse effect. Of the total Eucalyptus planted area, 14 % goes to the steel industry as charcoal (IBA 2017).
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