Abstract
Biomass is one of the most important sources of renewable energy. It is expected that in the coming decades, biomass will play a major role in replacing fossil fuels. The most commonly used biofuels include wood pellet, which is a cost-effective, uniform and easy-to-use material. In view of the growing interest in this type of resource, novel methods are being investigated to improve the quality of pellet. This article presents the results of a laboratory study focusing on wood pellets refined with waste sunflower cooking oil applied by spraying. In this work, authors attempted to modify the energy parameters of wood pellets with the use of waste cooking oil. Addition of waste cooking oil, applied at the rates of 2%, 4%, 6%, 8%, 10% and 12% relative to the weight of pellets, increased the calorific value of the pellets without decreasing their durability. The highest dose of the modifier (12%) on average led to a 12–16% increase in calorific value. In each case, the addition of sunflower oil resulted in decreased contents of ash in the pellets; on average a decrease of 16–38% was observed in the samples treated with the highest dose of the modifier. The treatment led to a higher content of elements affecting the heating value, i.e., carbon and hydrogen, which on average increased by 7.5–12%, and 7.0–10.0%, respectively. The presented method seems to be a promising way of increasing the calorific value of pellets. Further research on refining the method and the possibility of using it in industry is necessary.
Highlights
Changing climate conditions and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as the excessive exhaustion of non-renewable resources resulting from their unsustainable exploitation, have led to the urgent need for transformation in the energy sector
In order to assess the effects produced by waste cooking oil applied by spraying to wood pellets, first it was necessary to perform tests to determine whether the modifier affected the durability of the granulate
The findings show that addition of used vegetable oil to pellets, applied by spraying, does not significantly affect the durability of pellets
Summary
Changing climate conditions and increasing emissions of greenhouse gases, as well as the excessive exhaustion of non-renewable resources resulting from their unsustainable exploitation, have led to the urgent need for transformation in the energy sector. The most important sources of renewable energy include biomass. Biomass is recognised as a clean source of energy, with a total globally installed power estimated at a level of 87 GW [2]. It is expected that during the coming decades, biomass will play a crucial role in efforts to replace fossil fuels in global energy systems and to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions [3,4]. Experts estimate that by 2035, biomass may provide 120 exajoules (EJ) (50% of the global demand for energy) for production of heat, 15% EJ for transport and 18 EJ (7%) for production of electricity [5,6]. Biomass resources include natural materials and their derivatives. These are plants grown for energy purposes, i.e., Giant miscanthus, Basket willow and Virginia mallow
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