CALORIFIC VALUE OF PELLETS PRODUCED FROM RAW MATERIAL COLLECTED FROM BOTH SIDES OF THE RIVER PRUT

Abstract

The production of pellets has recently experienced a sudden upward trend worldwide, including the Republic of Moldova and Romania, especially due to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and rapid depletion of fossil energy sources. The widespread use of pellets has several reasons: it is an eco-friendly fuel, it allows the automation of the combustion process, and it can be easily produced in any region that has enough raw materials. The calorific value of pellets is the main characteristic feature that determines their price and is used in combustion engineering to find out the thermal efficiency of combustion plants. This paper synthesizes the results regarding the calorific value of the pellets produced from different types of plant biomass specific to the Republic of Moldova and the counties adjacent to the river Prut in Romania. The research has been carried out within the Solid Biofuels Laboratory, SAUM using standard methods of testing densified solid biofuels. The experimental results obtained in this study showed that the pellets produced from arboriculture residues, residues generated from vine pruning, table varieties, as well as those produced from sunflower seed husk have a calorific value equal to or greater than 16.5 MJ/kg, i.e., they meet ENPlus 3 requirements.

Keywords

• wood pellet
• calorific value
• biomass
• agricultural residues
• energy crops
• biomass conditioning
• combustion