Influence of Input and Control Parameters on the Process of Pelleting Powdered Biomass
Iuliana Gageanu,
Dan Cujbescu,
Catalin Persu,
Paula Tudor,
Petru Cardei,
Mihai Matache,
Valentin Vladut,
Sorin Biris,
Iulian Voicea,
Nicoleta Ungureanu
Affiliations
Iuliana Gageanu
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Dan Cujbescu
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Catalin Persu
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Paula Tudor
Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Petru Cardei
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Mihai Matache
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Valentin Vladut
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Sorin Biris
Department of Biotechnical Systems, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
Iulian Voicea
The National Institute of Research—Development for Machines and Installations Designed for Agriculture and Food Industry—INMA Bucharest, 013811 Bucharest, Romania
Nicoleta Ungureanu
Department of Biotechnical Systems, Politehnica University of Bucharest, 060042 Bucharest, Romania
This paper presents theoretical and experimental research studying the influence of process parameters on the quality of biomass pellets. A validated mathematical model was developed, expressing the density of biomass pellets as determined by moisture content, compression pressure, process heat, the initial density of the material, pelleting speed and initial volume of the material. The experiments for determining the influence of these parameters on the compression of biomass into pellets and optimizing the process were conducted on a heated single pellet compression device, using fir sawdust as raw material. To describe and study the process, four input and control parameters were varied—raw material moisture, pelleting speed, maximum force applied and pelleting die temperature. From the experiments, it was noticed that overall, moisture and pressure have the most important effect on the compression process and pelleting speed, and heat applied also affected the process. Pellet density decreased when pelleting speed and material moisture increase and the density increased with a higher compression pressure and higher heat during the process.
