article · Cogent Engineering
Torrefaction, or mild pyrolytic treatment, offers an effective route for converting biomass into solid biofuel. This research evaluates the torrefaction of Gmelina arborea wood to maximise energetic yields, including mass yield, higher heating value, and overall energy yield. Using a full-factorial experimental design, biomass samples with particle sizes ranging from 0.5 to 6 millimetres were treated at temperatures of 240 and 300 degrees Celsius for residence times of 30 and 60 minutes. The resulting torrefied biomass demonstrated improved heating values, proximate contents, and fuel ratios compared to raw biomass. Operating temperature exerted the greatest influence on energetic yields, exceeding the impacts of residence time and particle size. Factorial linear models identified the optimal processing conditions as a temperature of 260 degrees Celsius, a residence time of 60 minutes, and a particle size of 2 millimetres, which were successfully validated through physical experimentation.
Raw biomass often possesses high moisture and low energy density, limiting its direct utility as an industrial fuel. By identifying the precise conditions for torrefying Gmelina arborea, this work demonstrates how mild heat treatment can significantly upgrade forestry biomass into higher-quality solid biofuels. This offers a clear processing recipe to improve the energy density and combustion characteristics of renewable fuel alternatives.
This study provides operational parameters for bioenergy producers seeking to upgrade Gmelina arborea into high-density solid biofuels for heat and power generation. The findings identify specific processing conditions, including optimal particle size, temperature, and residence time. Because the research remains laboratory-based with small-scale experimental validation and linear predictive modelling, further pilot-scale testing and techno-economic assessments are required before industrial or commercial deployment can occur.
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One of the most promising routes to produce solid biofuel from biomass is mild pyrolytic treatment (torrefaction). In the present study, mild pyrolytic treatment of Gmelina arborea was carried out to obtain optimum energetic yields (mass yield, higher heating value and energy yield). The biomass of 0.5–6 mm particle sizes were torrefied at two different temperatures, 240 and 300°C for residence time of 30 and 60 min. Full-factorial experimental method was used for the optimization of torrefaction conditions in order to produce solid fuel with high energetic yields. The analyses revealed that torrefied biomass was better in terms of heating value, proximate contents and fuel ratio. The results also showed that temperature has the largest effect on the energetic yields compared to residence time and particle size. The optimum torrefaction conditions that produced the highest energetic yields were temperature of 260°C, residence time of 60 min and particle size of 2 mm as predicted using the factorial linear models. The optimum conditions were experimentally validated and the energetic yields obtained were acutely close to those predicted using factorial linear models developed in this study. Hence, mild pyrolytic treatment at a temperature of 260°C, residence time of 60 min and particle size of 2 mm is useful to produce solid biofuel with maximum energetic yields.
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DOI: 10.1080/23311916.2019.1593073
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