EVALUATION OF MILLING ENERGY REQUIREMENTS OF BIOMASS RESIDUES IN A SEMI-INDUSTRIAL

PILOT PLANT FOR CO-FIRING

M. Gil*, A. Gonzalez, A. Gil
CIRCE, Centre of Research for Energy Resources and Consumption
C/ Maria de Luna, 3 50018, Zaragoza, Spain
*Corresponding autor: miguelgc@unizar.es; tel: +34 976762562; Fax:+34 976732078
ABSTRACT: Biomass co-firing in conventional coal-fired plants seems to be a suitable and economical alternative to
increase renewable energy share accomplish CO2 reduction targets. The particle size of biomass fuels is a critical
parameter for a co-firing efficient performance. Excessive pretreatment can result in high operational costs. In
consequence, it is essential to increase the fuel flexibility in the pre-treatment chain for co-firing different kinds of
biomass residues in the same boiler at low cost. CIRCE co-firing laboratory is equipped with a milling facility to
determine electric consumption of the milling process in order to evaluate pretreatment costs co-firing. It has been
designed to provide high operation flexibility for testing a wide variety of biomass residues and target sizes. Corn strover
samples and forest biomass residues were tested at different target particles sizes: 1, 2 and 5 mm. Moisture content were
also measured prior and after milling to determine the drying effect. A decrease of the moisture content between 3-5% in
wet basis was observed after size reduction for both biomasses that should be taken into consideration when evaluating
the drying process. The results confirm lower energy consumption and finer particle size distribution for corn stover as
compared to forestry biomass residue.
Keywords: wood chips, corn residues, biomass pre-treatment.

1 INTRODUCTION
Biomass combustion has been the main energy
generation source for years and currently it is the most
important energy in underdeveloped countries.
Nowadays, it is an alternative as a renewable energy
resource, since it can be considered nearly a zero- CO2
emissions fuel. The reason is that the CO2 captured by
photosynthesis during its growth is the same that the
quantity of CO2 that the biomass emits to the atmosphere
during combustion.
However, this fuel frequently needs to be pretreated to
tailor its physical properties to combustion applications.
Range of particle size reductions commonly applied to
biomass are: chunking (50-250 mm), chipping (5-50 mm)
and grinding (0-80 mm) [1]. Usually biomass must be
chunked or chipped previously to grind. In most of the
different energetic technologies, the milling process is a
necessary pretreatment that offers the following
advantages [2]:

Easy handling and drying of bulk material

Initial densification

Facile densification through subsequent processing

(briquetting, pelleting)

Reduced costs of transportation

Facile sorting of material by size through separation

Increase reactive surface area of biomass particles,

which are exposed to bio-chemical processing.
Final physical properties of the product depend on the
application. Particle size can vary in a wide range of
values, from higher sizes for densification process as
briquetting (5-10mm) [3] or pelleting (~5mm) [3], to
lower particle size in other technologies, such as direct
combustion, biofuels (1-2mm) [4] (3-6 mm) [5] or cofiring in coal power plants (0.8-6mm) [6, 7].
Hammer, knife and disc mills are the most appropriate
equipment for biomass processing [2, 4]. Hammer mills
are relatively cheap and produce a high percentage of fine
particles [1,2,8]. This type of milling is based in
fragmentation by high velocity impact [9-12] where the
impact energy is entirely in the form of the kinetic energy
of the particle. As the particle strikes and compresses,

some of the kinetic energy is converted to strain energy in

the compressed particle, with the sum of strain energy
and kinetic energy equal to the impact energy. When the
strain energy reaches that required to cause fracture,
some of the stored strain energy is used to create new
surfaces and the rest is converted to heat by relaxation of
the fragment of breakage [13]. This generated heat in the
impact process is the cause of the drying effect usually
found in milling processes.
The energy consumption for grinding biomass depends
on the initial physical properties (particle size, moisture
content, material properties) and other process variables,
such as the feed rate material and the velocity impact,
which is dependent of the geometry and the rotational
speed of the mill [14].
The present study relates to the use of biomass for cofiring. It can be a feasible technology to install in
conventional coal power stations. In Spain, the 25.17% of
the electricity is generated in coal power stations [15].
Co-firing can be a feasible alternative for power
generation in the medium and long-term because of the
significance of coal electric generation, the relatively low
cost to retrofit the current facilities and the low impact in
boiler efficiency. However, the cost related to biomass
pulverization for co-firing is the major drawback
regarding to other technologies. Milling coal energy cost
(values between 0.486 Wh/MJfuel and 1.7 Wh/MJfuel) [16]
are lower by compression forces as breaking action. The
main difference is that coal is a brittle material while
biomass has a fibrous structure which is difficult to
fracture it by applying compression forces and the
comminution of non-brittle material is more complex
[17]. For this reason, it is necessary to define, evaluate
and optimize particle size reduction processes aimed at
obtaining a suitable product for combustion under
specified conditions.
This study is focused to analyze two different kinds of
biomasses: corn stover and pine chips. Corn stover is a
residue with low bulk density, low heating value, annual
production and low hardness. However, pine chips are a
forestry residue of forest cleaning. It is a fuel of higher
bulk density, higher heating value, a longer cycle life and
higher hardness for milling processes.

The goal of this research is to analyze energy

requirements and densification and drying effects in the
milling pre-treatment for different kinds of biomass
residues.

Raw
Material

2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF BIOMASS MILLING

FACILITY
The milling facility is divided in two stages. It is
equipped with two mills and a screen classifier. First
stage consists of reducing particle size to 2 or 5 mm,
depends on the used internal screen. Second stage is
focused on pulverizing material with a final particle size
lower than 1 mm, using a duplex mill. The facility allows
four milling configurations as a result of the different
possible combinations between the two mills.
2.1 Components of milling system
2.1.1 Hammer Mill
The mill is provided with a combination of fixed
cutting blades and floating hammers (Fig.2). Fuel is
deposited in a belt conveyor, and then it is led to the feed
hopper of the mill. The mill has an interchangeable steel
screen with 2 or 5 mm pore size. It has a horizontal axis
and 6 hammers arranged on 3 radial lines (Fig. 1). It has
also a fixed disc with 3 blades. Technical characteristics
of the mill are listed in Table I.

Milled
material

1 2
1 Mill case
2 Feed hopper
3 Floating hammers
4 Cutting blades
5 Steel sieve (2 - 5 mm)

Figure 2: Hammer mill main components

2.1.2 Duplex Mill
It is equipped with frames and strikers to allow a
pulverizing action (Fig. 3). Technical characteristics are
grouped in Table II.

Figure 3: Duplex mill equipment

Table II: Duplex mill technical characteristics
Figure 1: Hammer mill components
Table I: Hammer mill technical characteristics
Item
Hammer Mill size (m x m)
Power (kW)
Inlet particle size (mm)
Outlet particle size (mm)
Material

Data
0.930x1.150
11
50-100
< 2 or 5
Wood chips,
herbaceous biomass

Item
Hammer Mill size (m x m)
Power (kW)
Inlet particle size (mm)
Outlet particle size (m)
Material

Data
1.100x1.265
4
2 -5
<0.5 or 1 mm
Wood chips,
herbaceous biomass

2.1.3 Screen classifier

The screen classifier can adjust maximum particle size
by selecting sieves with varying pore size. Available
sieves are of 1000, 500, 360 and 111 m pore sizes.
2.1.4 Ancillary equipment.
It consists of bins and conveying equipment as belt or
screw and fans.

A. Hammer mill process.

The milling process is carried out through the hammer
mill with two configurations (see fig.5):
A.1. Hammer mill.
It is suitable when the required particle sizes are
not bigger than 5 or 2 mm. The internal mesh
guarantees that the particle size of the products is
not bigger than this mesh. Products are transported
by pneumatic conveying to the combustion chamber
feeding hopper.
A.2. Hammer mill with recirculation to the same mill.
The first milling action will be carried out in the
hammer mill. Subsequently, products from this
milling are conveyed to the classifier where fine
particles are separated from the coarse ones. Fine
particles are directly conveyed to the feeding hopper
whereas bigger particles are recirculated in order to
be grinded again in the same hammer mill.

Figure 4: Screen classifier

B. Duplex mill
The duplex mill has a mixed system with hammers and
strikers. It has also two internal sieves with different
screen sizes, 1 or 0.5 mm.
B.1. Duplex mill.
As the A.1 configuration, particles pass trough the
mill once before being transported by pneumatic
conveying to the hopper. Internal screen determines
the final particle size.
B.2. Duplex mill with recirculation to the same mill.
In case of finer particle sizes are necessary, this
configuration allows the particle to pass several
times trough the mill until the suitable size is
reached.

2.1.5 Data loggers

The energy requirements data are measured and saved
by network analyzers AR5. The signal is registered every
1 or 2 seconds. Later, data are discharge to specific
software named PowerVision.
2.1.6 Cyclone
The cyclone is over the screen classifier. Its function is
to separate the particles from the air flow. Milled
particles fall into the screen classifier.
2.2 Milling configurations of the experimental pilot plant
The facility design allows four different arrangements
grouped in two processes, as it is described below.

A.1. Configuration
A.2 Configuration
B.1 Configuration
B.2 Configuration

Bag filter

Biomass bin

B.1
Duplex mill
Screw feeder
Raw biomass
storage bin

B.2
Primary air

Recirculated
product from
classifier

Secondary air

A.2
Belt conveyor
Dryer

Screen
classifier

Hammer
mill

A.1
Figure 5: Milling configurations A and B

Bag filter

Biomass bin
Recirculated
product from
classifier

Raw biomass
storage bin

Screw feeder

Primary air

Secondary air
Duplex mill
Screen
classifier
Dryer
Belt conveyor

Hammer
mill

Figure 6: Milling configuration C

These arrangements are used only when the supplied
biomass is small, because of the duplex mill is only
suitable for inner particle sizes lower than 5 mm.
C. Hammer mill with recirculation to the duplex mill.
In this configuration (fig. 6) the milling and classifying
process are the same as in A.2 configuration, except for
the coarse recirculation. In this case, the coarse particles
are redirected to the duplex mill. The facility allows both
recirculation types.
Configuration changes can be made by means of
removable pneumatic conveying ducts. The combinations
between configurations and internal screens allow to
obtain the desired particle size in the process.

3.2 Biomass Moisture determinations

Moisture determination has been based on the standard
ASME (American Society for Mechanical Engineers) for
solid fuels, Standard Test Method for total moisture in
Coal D 3302-82 [19]. The standard test was valid to
apply with biomass fuels. For determining the moisture
of a fuel samples an ordinary drying oven with openings
for natural circulation and capable of temperature
regulation between limits of 104 and 110C was used.
The procedure consist on heating the sample at 105C
during one hour to constant mass, the moisture is
calculated by means of mass difference according to this
expression:

M =
3 BIOMASS ANALYSES
3.1 Biomass sample
Samples are taken from the different flows involved in
each experiment, before (raw material) and after (grinded
material) the milling processes.

W w Wd
100
Ww

(1)

Where M is the moisture content expressed in

percentage of wet matter, Ww is the weight of the wet
sample and Wd the weight of the dry sample.
3.3 Particle size analysis
The procedure was based on the ASME Standard Test
for Sieve Analysis of solid fuels D 293-93 [20]. Through
this test, mass percentages are measured as a function of
their particle size by passing through sieves of specified
mesh sizes. The total samples mass for the particle size
analysis were about 100 g. and the duration about 20
minutes.

Figure 7: Coning and quartering procedure [18]

For obtaining a representative sample, the samples are
collected from the total volume using the coning and
quartering procedure. It is a progressive process, from the
bulk volume (A) two quarters are taken (C and D) and
they are divided again into quarters. The final sample is
taken from the last one (G). The process is shown in
figure 7.
Figure 8: Mechanical sieving machine

The mechanical sieving machine used for the test

accepts assembly of vertically nested circular sieves of
203 mm in diameter, together with cover and receiver
(Fig. 8). The machine simulate the motion of a given
testing sieves during hand sieving by imparting a
horizontal oscillatory motion of approximately, 150
blows/min by a weight of 1.9 kg moving through a
vertical distance approximately 28 mm under the
influence of gravity.
The results are represented in diagrams which show the
particle size distribution according to the mass passing
through each sieve. Different screen sizes were used for
the particle size analysis of milling samples. Different
sieves are available for the analysis, in order to obtain
more accurately results; each sample was analyzed with
different sieves according to its average size. The
following mesh sizes were used: 0.045, 0.075, 0.100,
0.150, 0.250, 0.355, 0.500, 0.800, 1.000, 2.00, 3.150 mm.
3.4 Bulk density
The method of determining bulk density of solid
biofuels by the use of a standard measuring beaker was
used. The Technical Specification DD CEN/TS
15103:2005 was selected [21]. The principle of the
method is that the test portion is filled into a standard
container of a given size and shape and weighed
afterwards. Bulk density is calculated from the net weight
per standard volume and reported for the measured
moisture content. The calculation of bulk density as
received is according to the following equation.

Dar (atM ar ) =

(m2 m1 )
V

(2)

Where m1 is the mass of the empty container in kg, m2 is

the mass of the filled container in kg, V is the net volume
of the measuring container in m3 and Dar is the bulk
density of the biomass as received and with a moisture
content of Mar.
4 EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
4.1 Design of the experiments
The milling process can be classified into two
characteristics:

Open circuits or close circuits. In open circuits the

materials pass only one time through the mill. In
close circuits the particle can be passed undefined
number of times necessary to obtain the desire size.

Continuous or batch milling. In continuous milling,

feeding is continuous without interruption. Plant
stop is produced only for maintenance or due to
unusual problems. In batch milling the feeding is
discrete; it is a function of the supply or the
necessary milled product.
In present paper, experimental tests performed are a
combination of batch milling in open and close circuits.
The used milling configurations are denoted by the
following symbols:

Configuration A.1 and B.1: open circuits.

Configuration A.2, B.2 and C.1: close processes

with recirculation of coarse particles to the second
milling phase.

The experiments consisted of a batch milling of

various bags with the same weight. The weight depended
on the type of biomass, varying between 8 and 20 kg. The
feeding rate was given by the belt conveyor. This
equipment was manually controlled as function of the
electric current in the hammer mill. The desired electric
current was around 17 A, close to the nominal current of
the electric motor.
Target particle size was the main factor in the planning
of the experiments. Upper particle size in the milled
product refers to the process where 100% particles have
smaller size than the target size. Although, other
applications can allow a small percentage of bigger
particles than the target size, this is not the case.
Table III shows the configuration and the screen
selected for the different experimental tests.
Table III: Milling configuration and screen size utilized
for the tests.
Process Configuration

M1
M2
M3
P1
P2
P3

A.1
A.1
C.1
A.1
A.1
C.1

Hammer mill

Screenclassifier

Duplex mill

(internal screenporesize)

(screenporesize)

(internal screenporesize)

Yes (5mm)
Yes (2mm)
Yes (2mm)
Yes (5mm)
Yes (2mm)
Yes (5mm)

No
No
Yes (1mm)
No
No
Yes (1mm)

No
No
Yes (1mm)
No
No
Yes (1mm)

M1-P1 and M2-P2 processes are analogous: the same

configuration with the same internal screen in both mills.
However, in M3-P3 processes the internal screen of the
hammer mill is varied. This milling strategy can be more
suitable to obtain lower energy consumption in P3
process, due to the high consumption difference between
5 and 2 mm target size (P1 and P2) for pine chips, as it is
reported in the next section 4.3.3.
M3 process can be considered as a sum of the M2
process and a second milling of the coarse fraction
between 1 and 2mm. In the same way, P3 process is a
sum of P1 process and a second milling of the coarse
particles between 1 and 5mm.
4.2 Characteristics of the raw biomass
This study is based in biomass residues. First, corn
stover is corn residues (stalks, leaves and corn cob).
Secondly, pine chips are forestry waste from the North of
Spain.

Figure 9: Raw pine chips.

The biomass residues were supplied with moisture

content between 10% and 16% w.b. The material was
conserved and removed every three days in order to
homogenize the moisture content. Similar moisture
contents were desirable in order to compare the energy
requirement for milling.
The studied biomass residues present great differences
in bulk density, 56.6 kg/m3 for corn straw and 248.5
kg/m3 for pine chips.

Figure 10: Raw corn stover.

Upper particle size

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

5 mm

2 mm

1 mm

Initial moisture (w.b)

16%

10%

10%

Final moisture (w.b)

13%

8%

8%

Drying effect during milling

3%

2%

2%

Initial moisture (w.b)

13,0%

15,3%

15,3%

Final moisture (w.b)

10,0%

11,6%

10,1%

Drying effect during milling

3,0%

3,7%

5,2%

Corn straw

Pine chips

4.3.2 Pine chips

Size distributions of pine chips present a higher
percentage of coarse particles than corn straw. In P1
process (target particle size = 5mm) is obtained a
Pf<2=85.9%, Pf<1=43.2% and only Pf<0.5=17.6%. For 2
mm target size, it is observed that the percentage lower
than 1 mm is 67%, whereas this value is 97% for corn
stover.
100
90
cumulative passing (%)

4.3 Results and discussion

4.3.1 Corn stover
Particle size distributions show several relevant aspects:

Particle size distributions of M1 and M2 processes

show a small percentage of coarse particles. M1
process (Pf<5=100%) present only 2% of particle
between 5 and 2mm, and M2 process (Pf<2=100%)
a 3% of particles between 2 and 1 mm.

The size distributions of the M2 and M3 processes

are very similar due to the small percentage of
coarse in process M3 (Pf1<dp<2=3%). The fine
particles produced in the second mill do not
influence the overall size distribution.

cumulative passing (%)

Moisture content analyses were performed to raw and

milled corn stover samples. Moisture content reductions
of about 2 and 3 % in wet basis (w.b.) were obtained as
shown in Table IV.
The milling action produces an increase in the material
bulk density as function of particle size. Smaller particles
fill the void space of coarser ones producing a denser
bulk material.
Raw corn stover presents a low raw bulk density (56.6
kg/m3) and after comminution this physical property is
increased up to 214 kg/m3 (p<1mm), 210 kg/m3
(p<2mm) and 175 kg/m3 ((p<5mm). The highest
increase is 279% respect to the raw bulk density. (table
V). Reported data values by Mani et al. [22] showed
lower bulk densities: 131.37, 155.64 and 157.73 for 3.2,
1.6 and 0.8 target particle size with lower moisture
content (6.2 % w.b).
Table IV: Drying effect during milling process

Both biomasses have been chunked or chipped

previously, but unfortunately, the energy consumption
was not available. Pine chips present more homogeneous
and higher particle size, between 4 and 10 cm (Fig. 9)
than corn stover. Corn stover presents long stalks whose
size can vary from 5 to 20 cm, smaller leaves, or whole
corn cob (Fig. 10).

80
70
60
50
40

Process P1

30

Process P2

20

Process P3

10
Process M1
Process M2
Process M3

0,5

1,5

2,5

0
0

0,5

1,5

2,5

3,5

Size (mm)

3,5

Size (mm)

Figure 11: Size distributions of milled corn stover

produced. This particle size can be considered small

for co-firing. Since high percentage of corn stover
fines are generated by hammer milling, a process
using and internal screen of higher pore size and
coarse fraction recirculation would be desirable.
This strategy may lead to obtaining lower global
milling energy requirements.

An important percentage whose size is less than

0.5mm (70% particles in M2 and M3 process) is

Figure 12: Size distributions of milled pine chips.

Noteworthy differences in size distributions of P2 and
P3 processes contrast to similarities in M2 and M3
process. Most probably reason is due to the great
difference in the recirculation percentage (3% in process
M3 and 57% in process P3). The second stage milling is

Table V: Bulk density for different particle size.

Corn straw
Rawmaterial
5mm
2mm
1mm

Pine chips

bulk density (kg/m3)

%increased respect i

bulk density (kg/m3)

%increased respect i

56,6
175,1
210
214,5

---------------209,43
271,02
279,05

248,5
331,7
340,0
370,1

---------------33,47
36,80
48,93

Raw pine chips present higher bulk densities (248

kg/m3). After milling, the bulk density increases to 370
kg/m3 (Table V) for 1 mm size. These values are
according to the registered data by Esteban and
Carrasco[23]. They reported 328.76 kg/m3 for 1.5mm
target size for pine chips.
4.3.3 Energy requirement
In the present work it is reflected only the energy
requirement for the milling action (hammer and duplex
mills) and it does not take into account the ancillary
equipment consumption (belt conveyor, screw, fan and
classifier).
In analyzed data, power empty is taken into account
because it is required to run the empty mills, necessary to
operate the plant and omission of this information could
lead to misunderstandings.
As it was expected, it is noticeable an increase in the
energy requirement when granulometric reduction is
higher and an important difference in the consumption
between corn stover and pine chips for the same target
particle size.
There is a notable consumption increase between 5 mm
and 2 mm milling process in both materials. However,
the tendency for 1-mm-size milling process is different.
For corn stover, the 1-mm-size energy consumption is
similar (63.77 kWh/t) than 2-mm-size (59.75 kWh/t). For
pine chips, the energy consumption in P3 process is twice
of P2 Process. Results are due to the differences in
recirculation percentages between corn stover and pine
chips, and by the great influence of the duplex mill

consumption in the energy requirement of the global

process.
The differences found between 1 and 2 mm energy
requirements are the duplex mill consumption in the
coarse milling action. This effect may indicate that the
milling with a low internal screen pore size (0.5 or 1 mm)
is not very suitable for biomass fines due to the blinding
problems of the insert screen for 0.5 or 1 mm pore size.
Table VI: Specific energy requirement for corn stover
and pine chips.
Process

Upper particle size

Energy requirements (kWh/t)

M1
M2
M3
P1
P2
P3

5mm
2mm
1mm
5mm
2mm
1mm

8,67
59,75
63,77
32,77
111,44
221,5

Corn straw

Pine chips

Energy requirements presented in present paper are

similar to literature reported data. Esteban and Carrasco
[23] obtained an electrical consumption between 113.2 to
119.KWh/t with hammer mills for different milling
configurations for a 1.5 mm target particle size. Cadoche
and Lopez [5] reported an electrical consumption of
130kWh/t for 1.6 mm particle size of hardwood and knife
mill, and higher energy (65kWh/t) was required to mill
pine chips residues for 8mm upper particle size by Ortiz
et al. [3].

Energy requirement (kWh/t)

more important in overall size distribution to P3. The

higher recirculation rate is due to two aspects:

Pine chips milling produces a higher percentage of

coarse particles than grinded corn stover and
obviously a higher recirculation rate.

P3 and M3 milling strategy is different due to

different internal screen pore sizes in hammer mill
(5 and 2 mm, respectively). The consequence is the
production of a higher coarse fraction between 1 and
5 mm and higher recirculation rate. This strategy is
feasible due to the great electrical consumption
between P1 and P2 processes as it will be explained
in next section.
Moisture content analyses for pine chips present a
slightly higher drying effect than corn straw. The
moisture drop is around 30% in the grinded product,
between 3 and 5% in w.b., as shown in table IV. The
higher moisture decrease may be attributed to several
reasons: lower feed rate to the hammer mill and higher
hardness of the material which increases residence time
in the milling chamber increasing new thermal energy
release processes due to the higher probability of new
impacts.
Finally, higher moisture decrease shown in P3 process
is due to the second milling phase in the duplex mill and
to the additional drying effect.

250,00

Corn straw
Pine chips

200,00
150,00
100,00
50,00
0,00

Particle size (mm)

Figure 13: Energy requirement to milled corn stover and

pine chips
Electrical consumption for corn stover found in
literature show lower values than reported in this paper
except for 5 mm target particle size, for which
consumption data are similar. Mani et al. [24] reported a
34.30, 19.84 and 11.04 kWh/t for a 3.2, 1.6 and 0.8 mm
target particle size with 12% w.b. moisture content.
Cadoche and Lopez [5] tested corn stover grinding by
hammer and knife mills. They reported 10 kWh/t and 14
kWh/t for 3.2 and 1.6 mm respectively by hammer mill
grinding and 3, 20 kWh/t for 9.5 and 3.2 mm sizes by
knife mills. Himmel [25] tested knife mill grinding
obtaining 14 kWh/t for 3.2 mm target size.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Pf<0.5

The relevant aspects found in this experimental

research regarding to the physical properties of the milled
materials can be summarized as follows:

A drying effect is produced in the milling process

for all samples. A decrease of the moisture content
between 2 and 5% w.b. is found at 12-15% of initial
moisture in w.b.

The milling process increases the bulk density. An

increase of 279 % is obtained for corn stover (56.6
kg/m3 to 214.5 kg/m3) and a 48.9% for pine chips
(248.5kg/m3 to 370kg/m3), compared to the initial
raw bulk density of the samples.

Particle size distributions show a higher milling

hardness for pine chips, with a lower percentage of
fines than corn stover.
The most significant data is the milling energy
requirements for several particle sizes.

It is remarkable that there is an important

difference in electrical consumption between corn
stover and pine chips. Energy requirements for pine
chips are between 1.7 and 3.8 times higher than corn
stover consumption as function of particle size.

Pine chips data show an exponential tendency as

function of the particle size, whereas corn stover
present a different behaviour for 1mm pore size.

Pf 1dp<2
p<1mm
p<2mm
p<5mm

REFERENCES
[1]
[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

6 FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research will analyze the moisture content
decrease, bulk density increase, granulometries obtained
and the energy requirement registered with the same
materials varying the used milling configurations to get
the minimum energy requirement for each particle size
and kind of biomass.

[6]

[7]

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

[8]

This study is part of the projects ENE 200405137/ALT, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Education
and Science and the project CENIT CO2 (DT 02 09 SA
OA) funded by CDTI. We wish to thank CESEFOR and
Unin Fenosa Generacin for supplying the forest residue
biomass.

[9]

[10]
NOMENCLATURE
M
Ww
Wd
Dar(atM)
m2
m1
V
Pf<5
Pf<2
Pf<1

Moisture content.
weight of the wet sample.
weight fo the dry sample.
bulk density of the biomass as received and
with a moisture content of M.
weight of the filled container in kg.
weight of the empty container in kg.
net volume of the measurement container in
m3.
Final weight of material passing the 5mm
screen.
Final weight of material passing the 2mm
screen.
Final weight of material passing the 1 mm
screen.

Final weight of material passing the 0.5 mm

screen.
Final weight of accumulated material
between 1 and 2mm screen.
Particles of size lower than 1mm.
Particles of size lower than 2mm.
Particles of size lower than 5mm.

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