Abstract
A characterisation of Pinus pinaster Aiton. (Maritime Pine) woody biomass and ashes is presented in this study. Physical, thermal and chemical analysis, including density, moisture content, calorific value, proximate and ultimate analysis, were carried out. The fuel Energy Density (Ed) and the Fuelwood Value Index (FVI) were assessed by ranking the fuelwood quality. Furthermore, the determination of the ash metal elementals was performed. The results from this study indicated, for Pinus pinaster biomass tree components, carbon content ranging from 46.5 to 49.3%, nitrogen content from 0.13 to 1.18%, sulphur content from 0.056 to 0.148% and hydrogen content around 6–7%. The ash content in the tree components ranged from 0.22 to 1.92%. The average higher heating value (HHV) was higher for pine needles (21.61 MJ·kg−1). The Ed of 8.9 GJ·m−3 confirm the good potential of Pinus pinaster biomass tree components as fuel. The FVI ranked the wood stem (4658) and top (2861.8) as a better fuelwood and pine needles (394.2) as inferior quality. The chemical composition of the ashes revealed that the elemental contents are below the national and most European countries legislation guidelines for the employment of ash as a fertiliser.
Highlights
Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton.) is the second species in terms of occupied area in Portugal, accounting for around 23% of forest area, occurring mostly in the north and central regions of Portugal [1]
For the Fixed Carbon (FC) in [45], values around 26% were obtained for maritime pine bark biomass, while in [46], values of 26% were reported for pine shells, and on the Biomass Energy Foundation (BEF) digital database [47], FC reaches around 26.1% for pine needles
In [41], an average value of 6.3% was reported for maritime pine woody biomass, with values ranging between 6% and 6.78%, while in [46], a hydrogen amount of 4.3% was provided, and the digital database of BEF [47] provided 6% and 7% for the hydrogen amounts in ponderosa pine and yellow pine, respectively
Summary
Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton.) is the second species in terms of occupied area in Portugal, accounting for around 23% of forest area, occurring mostly in the north and central regions of Portugal [1]. Thereby, heavy metals in biomass ash, e.g., Zn, Cu, Cd, Cr and Pb above certain limits, are surely toxic to plants, precluding their use as fertiliser, insofar as its application to soil can constitute a potential source of contamination for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems [24,25] Under this negative environmental context, there are strict regulations in some countries, e.g., in North and Central Europe, specifying thresholds on amounts of elements such as Co, Cr, K, N, Cu, V, Zn, Ca, Cd, Cl, Ni, S or Pb in biomass fuels and ashes, considering all possible forms of conversion [26,27]. The present work, under all of the above context, aims to evaluate the chemical composition and physical properties of the maritime pine biomass, considering proximate, ultimate and ash analysis in the tree components stem, tops, branches and needles, sampled from 16 plots in the Northern Portuguese county of Viseu
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