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Pyrolysis and gasication of pellets from sugar cane bagasse and wood
Catharina Erlich a,*, Emilia Bjornbom b,1, David Bolado c,2, Marian Giner d,3, Torsten H. Fransson a,4
b

Department of Energy Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Royal Institute of Technology, 10044 Stockholm, Sweden c School of Industrial Engineering and Telecommunications, Cantabria University, 39005 Santander, Spain d School of Industrial Engineering, Polytechnic University of Valencia, 46022 Valencia, Spain Received 22 April 2005; received in revised form 6 December 2005; accepted 7 December 2005 Available online 3 January 2006

Abstract Wood pellets have become a popular form of biomass for power generation and residential heating due to easier handling both for transportation and for feeders in the treatment units, improved conversion and storage possibilities. The research on wood pellets as fuel has also been intensied during the past decade. However, other biomass sorts in pellet form, such as sugar cane bagasse, have not yet been extensively studied, especially not physical effects on the pellets during thermal treatment. Bagasse and wood pellets of different origin and sizes, shredded bagasse and wood chips have been studied in a thermogravimetric equipment to compare the effects of sort, origin, size and form of biomass during slow pyrolysis and steam gasication. Physical parameters such as decrease of volume and mass during treatment, as well as pyrolysis and gasication rates are of primary interest in the study. An important observation from the study is that for pellets the char density decreased during pyrolysis to a minimum around 450 8C, but thereafter increased with continued heating. The wood chips behaved differently with a continuous char density decrease during pyrolysis. Another conclusion from the work is that the size of the pellet has larger impact on the shrinkage behaviour throughout the conversion than the raw material, which the pellet is made of. q 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Pyrolysis; Char density; Steam gasication

1. Introduction The energy policy during the past decade in Sweden with taxation of fossil fuels has resulted in a large bio fuel market for heat and power generation. Wood pellets are a commercialised product with an annual production of about 1 million ton in Sweden [1], and has become very attractive for residential heating in houses that are not connected to a district-heating network. Wood pellets can be obtained in common gasoline stations and are thus easily available. The cost of pellet production is about 61 Euro/ton where the raw material stands

* Corresponding author. Tel.: C46 8 790 7468; fax: C46 8 20 4161. E-mail addresses: erlich@energy.kth.se (C. Erlich), emilia@ket.kth.se (E. Bjornbom), davbolado@hotmail.com (D. Bolado), mariansita17@hotmail. com (M. Giner), fransson@energy.kth.se (T.H. Fransson). 1 Tel.: C46 8 790 8256. 2 Tel.: C34 94 220 1055. 3 Tel.: C34 96 387 7170. 4 Tel.: C46 8 790 7475; fax: C46 820 4161.

0016-2361/$ - see front matter q 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.fuel.2005.12.005

for half of the cost [2]. Wood pellets are also used in large-scale heat power plants for electricity generation and district heating. With the increased interest for pellets, the research in the eld has also been intensied. Emissions from wood pellets combustion has been studied [3,4], as well as pyrolysis and combustion behaviour [57] and physical effects on the wood pellet during pyrolysis [5,8]; comparisons are also made with wood in chip form [8]. The advantages with biomass pellets are multiple; pelletisation facilitates storage, transport, and feeding in the treatment units. The lower moisture content and the decreased heterogeneity of the densied biomass also contribute to improved conversion technologies. The development in Sweden shows that the pelletisation technology can be economically protable if done in large scale [9]. Another biomass which is available in large quantities is sugar cane bagasse, which without densication is very bulky and inhomogeneous making it difcult to introduce in modern conversion technologies. Presently, most bagasse is used in inefcient combustion devices connected to a steam cycle with low steam parameters producing heat and power needed for the sugar process. Pelletisation of bagasse would make possible the

1536 Table 1 Composition of raw materials used in the experiments Material Composition wt% m.a.f.a C Cuban Bagasse Brazilian Bagasse Softwoodc
a b c d

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wt% d.b.b N 0.2 0.2 0.1 H 5.5 6.0 6.0 O (calc) 47.4 46.8 41.2 Ash 1.7 5.5 !0.3d

46.9 47.0 52.7

m.a.f.: moisture- and ash free basis. d.b.: dry basis. Average composition of softwood [15]. According to the pellet manufacturer.

use of high efcient energy conversion processes with low emission levels and signicant increase in electricity production. Furthermore, pelletisation makes it possible to efciently add ash-controlling components decreasing the risk for ash-melting in the conversion devices [10]. Compared to wood pellets, there is very little experience on the thermochemical behaviour of different bagasse pellets (origin and size). Large bagasse pellets have been tested in uidised bed gasiers by Olivarez et al. [11], Waldheim et al. [12] and Filippos et al. [13], but very few parametric conversion studies exists [14]. The objective with the present study is to look at those parameters for pellets that are of importance for application in a packed-bed gasier, but some results from the study are as well applicable to other conversion technologies. If not pelletised, bagasse will not be applicable as a packed-bed material or in uidised bed technology. Gasied biomass permits better control of combustion than a solid fuel as well as an increased combustion temperature. Additionally, with gasication technology, it is possible to introduce higher efciency power cycles or IC-engines for electricity generation. The present study compares the conversion behaviour during slow pyrolysis in oxygen-free environment and steam gasication of pellets from softwood (two pellet sizes) and sugar cane bagasse (two sorts and pellet sizes), wood chips and shredded bagasse to give a qualitative base of comparison between the different materials and forms. Of large importance is how the pellets of different materials behave physically during pyrolysis and gasication (mass- and volume decrease) in comparison with chip and shred form. Of particular interest is also how the pellet size affects the reactivity in gasication. 2. Experimental 2.1. Raw materials Sugar cane bagasse (from Cuba and Brazil) and stem wood (Swedish spruce) have been used in the experiments. The bagasse was represented in pellet form, with : 6 mm for Cuban bagasse and : 12 mm for the commercially available Brazilian bagasse, as well as in shredded form. Some experiments were performed with : 6 mm pellets of Brazilian bagasse, prepared in Sweden [14]. The wood was studied both in pellet and chip forms. Wood pellets with : 6 and : 8 mm have been selected for this study, because these sizes seem to be

the most suitable for practical application [14]. Tables 1 and 2 present the chemical composition and other relevant properties of the raw materials. The mass interval of the pellets is due to both differences in length and in density. 2.2. Equipment Thermogravimetric equipment (TG) built for pyrolysis and gasication studies of large samples of bulky biomass have been used in the experiment (Fig. 1) [16,17]. As this TG is designed for large biomass samples, whole pellets can be used, and thus the effect of form and size of the pellets can be studied. In contrast, most commercial TG equipment take samples in the size of milligrams [13,18,19]; therefore, few studies on the effects of forms and sizes of larger biomass particles can be found in literature. The biomass samples are placed on a circular stainless steel net plate (sample holder), which is suspended to a balance measuring the mass. A thermocouple (type K) has been introduced on the holder to register the sample temperature during treatment. Electrical heaters are placed both above and under the net plate, enable to heat the sample up to 900 8C. Nitrogen gas at atmospheric pressure passes downwards the
Table 2 Physical properties of the materials used in the experiments Material (and pellet diameter where applicable) Physical properties Moisture (105 8C) (wt%) 6.6 5.0 4.9 4.6 5.3 5.6 6.3 9.7 Density (each piece) (kg/m3) 7001200 150270 10001250 10501150 Bulk: 190 11001250 11001250 280450 Mass (each piece) (10K3 kg total basis) 0.200.45 0.150.30 1.11.6 0.250.30 0.550.85 0.350.55 0.20.4 Length (mm)

Bagasse Cuba, : 6 mm Large shred Bagasse, Cuba Bagasse Brazil, : 12 mm Bagasse, Brazil, : 6 mm Small shred Bagasse, Brazil Wood, : 8 mm Wood, : 6 mm Wood chips

8.514 9.513 911.5 9.514 1015 Width: 1726, 2540

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Fig. 1. Thermogravimetric equipment used for the experiments.

column from the balance to the plate, in which the biomass sample is placed, to assure oxygen-free environment and to evacuate the produced gases during treatment. Nitrogen ow of 2 L/min is used in the pyrolysis and an additional steam ow of

0.12 kg/h for the gasication experiments. The gases produced during the thermochemical treatment of the samples are evacuated from the net plate downwards, and cooled with water before exiting in a ue gas channel.

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Table 3 Shrinkage, density and yield of char from wood and bagasse after pyrolysis in nitrogen at a heating rate of 20 8C/min Biomass samples, form and size Bagasse, Cuba (: 6 mm) Wood chips Wood (: 8 mm) Bagasse, Brazil (: 12 mm) Bagasse, Cuba (: 6 mm) Wood chips Wood (: 6 mm) Wood (: 8 mm) Bagasse, Brazil (: 12 mm)
a b

Final pyrolysis temp. (8C) 450 450 450 450 800 800 800 800 800

d/d0 (%) 79.7G1.7 70.1aG1.4 76.5G1.2 80.6G0.4 70.9G1.7 70.3aG8.8 68.6G1.4 69.0G0.8 75.5G2.1

l/l0 (%) 71.9G2.3 84.5bG1.3 83.4G2.7 84.1G1.2 63.8G1.6 76.2bG0.6 71.8G0.9 71.4G0.7 79.0G1.9

Char yield, m/m0 (% m.a.f.) 25.7G1.3 29.0G1.0 28.7G0.4 28.9G0.9 18.3G0.7 21.5G1.6 21.3G0.2 21.5G0.1 23.0G1.1

Char density (kg/m3) 494G70 247G21 672G17 637G22 524G65 230G43 694G39 716G29 649G44

DY/DY0 (%) 59G2.7 67G2.0 59G1.5 57G1.7 62G4.2 63G8.4 64G2.6 64G1.6 58G2.9

Width perpendicular to the bre length direction. Fibre length direction.

A temperature programmer set on a heating rate of 20 8C/min is connected to the heaters of the sample plate (temperature regulator 2). Temperature regulator 1 controls the heating of the nitrogen gas and the superheating of the steam for gasication. The steam used in the gasication is produced in a separate steam generator at atmospheric pressure. 2.3. Procedure The pellets used for the experiments were cut and polished to nearly perfect cylinders and thereafter weighed and measured for diameter and length. The wood chips were prepared to uniformly rectangular slabs. A batch of 10 pellets/chips was placed on the net plate of the TG equipment and suspended onto the balance via the thermocouple, to register mass decrease and sample temperature during treatment. Different nal temperatures of the pyrolysis were chosen to study the temperature effect on various physical parameters of the residual char such as volume decrease, density change and char density. For the gasication experiments the samples were rst pyrolysed up to 800 8C, thereafter the gasication took place at isothermal conditions (800 8C). The temperature of 800 8C was chosen to represent an average value for the reduction temperature found in a gasier. For pellets, the gasied char samples were collected after 5060% conversion (based on ash-free mass), to study the shrinkage during gasication. 3. Results and discussions 3.1. Shrinkage and char density of wood and sugar cane bagasse in pyrolysis The shrinkage, the yield and the density of char from pyrolysis of pellets from wood and bagasse are shown in Table 3 as average values with variances. The ratios between char diameter and initial pellet diameter (d/d0), char length and

initial pellet length (l/l0) and char mass and initial pellet mass (m/m0 [% m.a.f.]) are used to illustrate the shrinkage behaviour. Similarly, the change of the density during the pyrolysis is shown using the ratio between char density and initial particle density (DY/DY0). For wood chips the variances for shrinkage in direction perpendicular of the wood bres are much larger than this along the length of the bres (see the results for 800 8C). For pellets the variances for decrease in length and diameter are, however, very small, indicating that the pelletisation has favoured homogeneous shrinkage. For wood, the relative decrease in length and diameter is practically the same for : 6 and : 8 mm pellets. The char yield is also almost the same for the pellets and chips, even though there are signicant differences in initial density and mass. Comparing all pellets, the larger (: 12 mm) Brazilian bagasse pellets showed less decrease in length and diameter during the pyrolysis. The results concerning char density at 450 and 800 8C suggest that the shrinkage behaviour of wood pellets is rather

Fig. 2. Pyrolysis of pellets of bagasse and wood, shredded bagasse and of wood chips in nitrogen with a heating rate of 20 8C/min. Br bag: Brazilian bagasse; Cu bag: Cuban bagasse; pell: pellets; w: wood.

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Table 4 Shrinkage, density and yield of char from bagasse pellets (: 6 mm) after pyrolysis in nitrogen at a heating rate of 20 8C/min, depending on initial pellet density Initial pellet density (kg/m3) 700800 9001000 750870 9601100 Final pyrolysis temp. (8C) 450 450 800 800 d/d0 (%) 79.2G1.7 80.0G1.3 70.3G0.9 71.6G2.1 l/l0 (%) 70.6G2.3 71.8G1.0 62.6G0.9 65.2G0.8 Char yield, m/m0 (% m. a.f.) 24.5G0.5 26.4G1.1 18.1G0.5 18.5G0.8 Char density (kg/m3) 415G24 547G20 479G44 568G59

different compared to that of chips. During the initial course of pyrolysis, the shrinkage of pellets is counteracted by the intensive release of gas from the pyrolysing material in temperatures between 250/300 and 450 8C (Fig. 2). Continued heating up to 800 8C results in a very low mass loss rate but relatively larger volume decrease. Thus the densities of the char samples obtained at nal pyrolysis temperature 800 8C are higher than those obtained after 450 8C. This was observed in different extent in pyrolysis of pellets, but not at all for wood chips, which decreased continuously its char density during heating to 800 8C. The dependence of shrinkage on the initial density of Cuban bagasse pellets (: 6 mm) is shown in Table 4. The decrease in length and diameter is slightly dependent on the initial pellet density, with less decrease for the higher density pellets. The char yield is higher for the higher density pellets, both after pyrolysis up to 450 and 800 8C. 3.2. Removal of volatiles in pyrolysis of the biomass samples The relative mass (m/m0 [% m.a.f.]) as function of temperature during pyrolysis of wood and bagasse pellets, shredded bagasse and wood chips is presented in Fig. 2. For the Brazilian bagasse, the initial mass loss in the pyrolysis occurs at a higher temperature, 300 8C, for the larger pellets (: 12 mm) than for the shred form and the smaller pellets (: 6 mm), for which both the decomposition starts at around 250 8C. The char yield is also dependent on the size; it is higher for the larger pellets (: 12 mm) compared to the smaller pellets (: 6 mm), which in turn have slightly higher char yield than shred at 450 8C. The loss of material in pyrolysis of the wood samples shows similar temperature prole as that for bagasse however, the form of wood samples, the density and the size of the pellets and chips have not affected the pyrolysis temperature prole or the char yield. 3.3. Steam gasication rate of chars obtained from wood chips, bagasse shred and pellets of wood and bagasse The relative mass (m/m0,char [% m.a.f.]) during steam gasication at 800 8C of char samples obtained in pyrolysis of pellets, chips, and bagasse shred at nal temperature 800 8C is presented as a function of time, Fig. 3. Origin, pellet size and material form have impacts on the gasication rate. For wood, char from chips is gasied slightly faster than char from pellets, and smaller char pellets (: 6 mm) have a slightly shorter conversion time than the larger (: 8 mm). For Brazilian

bagasse, the char of : 12 mm pellets have signicantly longer conversion time than the char of : 6 mm pellets. It is also observed that char from wood undergoes faster conversion during steam gasication than char from bagasse. 3.4. Shrinkage of chars from pellets during gasication The shrinkage of pellets in length and diameter after pyrolysis to nal temperature 800 8C and gasication at the same temperature with about 5060% conversion of the initial char mass is presented in Table 5. The decrease in length and diameter is presented both in comparison to the initial pellet measures (d/d0 and l/l0), and to the shrinkage obtained for the char pellets after pyrolysis to 800 8C (d/d0,char and l/l0,char). The latter has been calculated using the average values from Table 3 for the respective material. The shrinkage during gasication of char from pellets is rather small compared to the decrease during pyrolysis. It is observed that the volume of chars from larger pellets (: 8 and : 12 mm) decreases more than this of the smaller pellets (: 6 mm), and the char : 12 mm pellets shrink most, while in pyrolysis the : 12 mm pellets had the lowest volume decrease. It seems thus that the smaller the diameter of the initial pellet, the more stable char structure after pyrolysis.

Fig. 3. Relative mass (m/m0,char) as a function of time for steam gasication of char at 800 8C; for the abbreviations, see Fig. 2.

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Table 5 Shrinkage of chars, obtained from pyrolysis up to 800 8C, after steam gasication at the same temperature Pellet material and diameter Wood (: 6 mm) Wood (: 8 mm) Cuban bagasse (: 6 mm) Brazilian bagasse (: 6 mm) Brazilian bagasse (: 12 mm) d/d0 (%) 64.4 62.8 66.4 61.6 65.8 l/l0 (%) 67.8 64.8 61.0 62.9 70.5 Char conversion (% m.a.f.) 58 62 46 58 49 d/d0,char (%) 94 91 95 n.m. 87 l/l0,char (%) 94 91 96 n.m. 89

4. Conclusions Pyrolysis and steam gasication of pellets from softwood (two pellet sizes) and sugar cane bagasse (two origins and pellet sizes), wood chips and shredded bagasse have been compared. The major conclusions from this study are as it follows: In a set of pellets of the same size and biomass type, the shrinkage in diameter and length during pyrolysis takes place with very small variances among the pellets, suggesting homogeneous physical behaviour in a packedbed conversion technology. In untreated biomass the variances in direction perpendicular to the bres length are much larger than those along the bres length. Higher density pellets of bagasse result in higher char yield and smaller shrinkage during pyrolysis. In pyrolysis, bagasse pellets with larger diameter had less volume decrease and higher char yield compared to smaller pellets. Pellets undergo different volume decrease during pyrolysis compared to chip form. Pellets have higher char density after pyrolysis up to 800 8C than after 450 8C, while the char density of biomass chips decrease continuously with increased temperature. The pellet size has impact on gasication rate but very slightly on pyrolysis rate. The larger the pellet, the slower the gasication. In gasication, bagasse is less reactive than wood. The volume decrease of chars from pellets during gasication is very small, suggesting that a char structure stabilisation of the pellet takes place during pyrolysis. The smaller the pellet, the smaller is the relative volume decrease of char during gasication. The size of the pellet has larger impact on the shrinkage behaviour throughout the conversion than the raw material, which the pellet is made of.

supply of the Brazilian bagasse and to Glommers Miljoenergi, Sweden for the supply of the wood pellets. Technical assistance from Mikael Lundgren, Department of Chemical Engineering and Technology, KTH, Sweden, is also greatly appreciated. References
[1] Olsson M, Kjallstrand J, Petersson G. Biomass Bioenergy 2003;24:517. [2] Hirsmark J. Densied biomass fuels in Sweden: country report for the EU/INDEBIF project. MSc thesis no. 38. Swedish Institute for Agricultural Sciences; 2002. [3] Kjallstrand J, Olsson M. Biomass Bioenergy 2004;27:55761. [4] Olsson M, Kjallstrand J, Petersson G. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 2003;67: 13541. [5] Palchonok G, Leckner B, Tullin C, Martinsson L, Borodulya, A. Combustion characteristics of wood pellets. Pellets 2002 international conference, Stockholm, Sweden, September 26, 2002. p. 1059. [6] Ohman M, Hedman H, Nemeth S. Combustion of pelletised hydrolysis residues from ethanol production in residential pellet appliances (! 20 kW). ETC report no. 2002-2, Energy Technology Centre, Pitea, Sweden; 2002. [7] Andersson S, Salman H, Kjellstrom B. Utilisation of hydrolysis residues as gas turbine fuel. STEM report no. P11452-1, Swedish Energy Agency, Sweden; 2003. [8] Hansson KM. Principles of biomass pyrolysis with emphasis on the formation of the nitrogen-containing gases HNCO, HCN and NH3. PhD Thesis. Chalmers University of Technology, Gothemburg, Sweden. ISBN 91-7291-349-5; 2003. [9] Thek G, Obernberger I. Biomass Bioenergy 2004;27:67193. [10] Bentzen JD, Hindsgaul C, Henriksen U, Sorensen LH. Straw gasication in a two-stage gasier. In: Proceedings of the 12th European conference and technology exhibition on biomass for energy, industry and climate protection, Amsterdam, June 2002; 2002. p. 57780. [11] Olivares Gomez E, Barbosa Cortez LA, Silva Lora E, Glauco Sanchez C, Bauen A. Energy Convers Manage 1999;40:205. [12] Waldheim L, Morris M, Regis Lima Verde Leal M. Biomass power generation: sugar cane bagasse and trash, progress in thermochemical biomass conversion, Tyrol, Austria, September 1722, 2000. [13] De Filippis P, Borgianni C, Paolucci M, Pochetti F. Biomass Bioenergy 2004;27:24752. [14] Erlich C, Ohman M, Bjornbom E, Fransson T. Fuel 2005;84:56975. [15] Nordin A. Biomass Bioenergy 1994;6:339. [16] Rensfeldt E, Blomkvist G, Ekstrom C, Engstrom S, Espen B-G, Liinanki L. Basic gasication studies for development of biomass medium-BTU gasication process. Energy from biomass and wastes, IGT, paper no. 27, 1418 August, 1978. p. 46694. [17] Zanzi R. Pyrolysis of biomass. PhD Thesis. Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Stockholm, Sweden; 2001. [18] DeGroot WF, Shazadeh F. Kinetics of wood gasication by carbon dioxide and steam. Fundamentals of thermochemical biomass conversion. Amsterdam: Elsevier; 1985. p. 27592. ISBN 0-85334-306-3. [19] Klose W, Wolki M. Fuel 2005;84:88592.

Acknowledgements The nancial support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) is greatly appreciated. The present work is part of Sida project SWE 2000-189B. Many thanks to CETER at ISPJAE in Havana, Cuba, for the supply of the Cuban bagasse. Thanks to TPS Thermal Processes, Sweden for the