Pellets Obtained from the Husks of Sunflower Seeds and Beech Sawdust for Comparison

Abstract

The energetic fossil resources of the world have decreased drastically in recent decades, and the quick and efficient solution to replace them is to use renewable biomass resources. This category also includes vegetable biomass, and within it, sunflower seed shells have an important contribution. The present work aimed to analyze the pellets obtained from the husks of sunflower seeds, as lignocellulosic biomass resulting from the production of edible oil, and for comparison, some pellets from beech sawdust were used. The main physical properties (such as moisture content, density, coefficient of densification, etc.), mechanical properties (such as shear strength) and calorific properties (high and low calorific value, calorific density, volatile content and ash content) were determined and statistically analyzed. As the main element of comparison of these types of pellets, the pellets obtained from beech sawdust were used. For the comparison of the pellets obtained from the husks of sunflower seeds, especially to observe their differences compared to the torrefied pellets, charcoal was chosen. The conclusions highlighted the fact that sunflower seed husks are an important source of biomass that can be used to obtain lignocellulosic pellets, and the torrefied pellets obtained from these husks are comparable with the energetic value of charcoal.