Utilizing the Heat Waste from Biomass Power Generation to Reduce the Moisture Content of Woodchips

Abstract

This paper is to study the drying method to reduce the moisture content (MC) of the woodchip. The methods used are to utilize the heat from solar and waste heat from the Biomass Power Plant (BioPP). By using a 250 °C heat waste from the BioPP, and stirring on the woodchip inside the drying equipment, the results obtained to reduce the MC from more than 40 % to MC around 20 % will take 2 h and 4 h faster than that which was not done on woodchips. Reducing MC from 40 % to 20 % will save 25.44 % on the woodchip consumption for combustion in the boiler of the BioPP. An analysis related to MC, CV, and woodchip consumption in generating electricity is also carried out. When MC is 26.70 %, the CV is 13.5 GJ T-1, and the woodchip consumption becomes 4.62 T h-1 and 1.31 T MWh-1, the energy produced is 764.7 kWh T-1. When the MC is higher, 47.68 %, causing the CV to become 9.8 GJ T-1, it is found that the consumption of the woodchips becomes 6.41 T h-1 and 1.81 T MWh-1, the energy produced is 551.3 kWh T-1.

Keywords

• biomass drying
• boiler efficiency
• heat waste utilization
• renewable energy
• woody biomass.