Determination of some physical properties of biomass for the purpose of pneumatic transport

Abstract

The scope of the research presented in this paper is agricultural biomass which becomes more and more interesting as a fuel, especially for the production of heat. The easiest way to manipulate agricultural residues in the processes, either for production of pellets or in the system for boiler feeding, is to apply pneumatic transport. For the purpose of pneumatic transport, biomass should be grinded into smaller particles. In order to design pneumatic transport it is necessary to know some of the physical characteristics of these particles. There is not enough data in the literature on properties of agricultural biomass such as: bulk density, particle distribution, density, porosity and humidity. The aim of this paper is to show the application of methods for obtaining these parameters. The methods are applied to a sample of raw sunflower husks. The principal methods of determining the physical properties of biomass are experimental. A sample of raw sunflower husks is obtained from one Vojvodinian agricultural household and was prepared for testing.

Keywords

• density
• bulk density
• porosity
• humidity
• agricultural waste
• biomass
• pneumatic transport of biomass