Fuel properties and combustion characteristics of some promising bamboo species in India

Abstract

We investigated the fuel characteristics of five important bamboo species viz., Dendrocalamus strictus, D. brandisii, D. stocksii, Bambusa bambos and B. balcooa. The selected species cover more than 85% of the total growing stock of bamboo in India. Basic density varied from 0.48 to 0.78 g·cm−3 among the bamboo species studied. Ash content, volatile matter content and fixed carbon content ranged between 1.4%–3.0%, 77.2%–80.8% and 17.6%–21.1%, respectively. Variation in calorific value (18.7–19.6 MJ·kg−1) was marginal. Fuel value index varied widely (586–2120) among bamboo species. The highest calorific value (19.6 MJ·kg−1) and fuel value index (2120) were found in B. balcooa. Ash elemental analysis revealed that silica and potassium are the major ash forming minerals in bamboo biomass. Silica content ranged from 8.7% to 49.0%, while potassium ranged from 20.6% to 69.8%. We studied combustion characteristics under oxidizing atmosphere. Burning profiles of the samples were derived by applying the derivative thermogravimetric technique which is discussed in detail. The five bamboo species were different in their combustion behaviour, mainly due to differences in physical and chemical properties. We compare fuel properties, ash elemental analysis and combustion characteristics of bamboo biomass with wood biomass of Eucalyptus hybrid (Eucalyptus tereticornis × Eucalyptus camaldulensis).