Modelling the Suitability of Pine Sawdust for Energy Production via Biomass Steam Explosion

Zephania Chaula, Mahir Said, Geoffrey John, Samwel Manyele, Cuthbert Mhilu

Department of Chemical and Mining Engineering, University of Dar es Salam, Dar es Salam, Tanzania.
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering and Technology, University of Dar es Salam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Department of Sustainable Energy Science and Engineering, The Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology, Arusha, Tanzania.

DOI: 10.4236/sgre.2014.51001                

Abstract

Biomass material as a source of fuel is difficult to handle, transport, store, and utilize in its original form. To overcome these challenges and make it suitable for energy prodution, the material must be pre-treated. Biomass steam explosion is one of the promising pretreatment methods where moisture and hemicellulose are removed in order to improve biomass storage and fuel properties. This paper is aimed to model the suitability of pine saw dust for energy production through steam explosion process. The peak property method was used to determine the kinetic parameters. The model has shown that suitable operating conditions for steam explosion process to remove moisture and hemicellulose from pine sawdust. The temperature and pressure ranges attained in the current study are 260 -317 ℃ (533 -590 K), 4.7 -10.8 MPa, respectively.

Keywords

Biomass Pretreatment; Hemicellulose; Kinetics; Pine Sawdust; Steam Explosion

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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