Abstract
This work investigates the proportion of generated fines in a pilot-scale experiment using a belt conveyor and commercial fuel pellets. For this, a belt conveyor with a length of 3.1 m was used and operated at varying conditions: speeds, percentages of material loading on the belt, two combinations of the inclination angle of the belt and the falling height, and a different number of handling steps. We considered a design of experiments approach based on response surface methodology to investigate the effect of different conditions on the potential of fines generation. Moreover, a comparison between the results of the belt conveyor and three common benchmark experimental approaches (tumbling box, rotary impact tester, and mechanical compression test) was made. Results show that the number of handling steps and the combined effect of drop height and inclination angle directly affected the fines generation. However, the tested belt speed range and the level of loading were of lower significance. A polynomial quadratic model was derived based on the regression analysis and showed a high accuracy to predict the proportion of fines. Moreover, the tumbling box method showed good potential to predict the proportion of fines in a belt conveyor when transported several times.
Highlights
With increasing the worldwide energy demand on the one hand and increasing global warming and greenhouse emissions, on the other hand, the use of alternative energy sources to fossil fuels is becoming of vital importance
The pellet length distributions (PLD) of the samples used in the tumbling box and the rotary impact testers show that the PLD of the classified samples is roughly similar except for the medium-sized pellets, which show a small deviation (Fig. 5(a) and (b))
As previously reported by other researchers such as Murtala et al (2020), in the tumbling method pellets are usually subjected to attrition forces while in the rotary impact tester the impact forces play a major role in the breakage of pellets
Summary
With increasing the worldwide energy demand on the one hand and increasing global warming and greenhouse emissions, on the other hand, the use of alternative energy sources to fossil fuels is becoming of vital importance. In recent years, biomassbased energy sources attracted more attention due to their low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and high availability (Gustavsson, Börjesson, Johansson, & Svenningsson, 1995). In 2019, more than 9% of global energy production was supplied with biomass energy sources (Enerdata, 2020). Raw biomass has high water content and a low bulk density. To use biomass more efficiently, it is normally subjected to drying and densification processes in which the material’s quality improves in terms of energy content and bulk density. Higher bulk and energy density and lower moisture content can ensure easier and econom-
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