• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.5
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• pp.725-731
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• 2018

The effects of catalysts addition on the carbonization reaction of biomass have been studied in a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA). The sample biomasses were Bamboo and Pine. The catalysts tested were K, Zn metal compounds. The carbonization reactions were tested in the nonisothermal condition from the room temperature to $850^{\circ}C$ at a heating rate $1{\sim}10^{\circ}C/min$ on the flowing of $N_2$ purge gases. Also, the effects of catalyst on the torrefaction were tested in the temperature condition of 220, 250, $280^{\circ}C$ at 30 min. Combustion characteristic for the torrefied catalyst biomass were studied in the nonisothermal conditions of $200{\sim}850^{\circ}C$. As the results, the initial decomposition temperatures of the volatile matters ($T_i$) and the temperature of maximum reaction rate ($T_{max}$) were decreased with increasing the catalyst amounts in the sample biomass. The char amounts remained after carbonization at $400^{\circ}C$ increased with the catalyst amounts. Therefore catalysts addition can be decreased the energy for carbonization process and improved the heating value of product char. The catalysts reduced the optimum torrefaction conditions from $250^{\circ}C$ to $220^{\circ}C$. The torrefied catalyst biomass have lower activated energy from 46.5~58.7 kJ/mol to 25.1~27.0 kJ/mol in the nonisothermal combustion reaction.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.1-5
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• 2015

This study is to investigate the effect of torrefaction on enzymatic hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass for bio-ethanol production. As a pretreatment, the torrefaction of lignocellulosic biomass was conducted in temperature of $250{\sim}350^{\circ}C$ in the absence of oxygen. Tween-80, nonionic surfactant, was tested to enhance saccharification efficiency by coping with hydrophobicity resulted from torrefaction. As a result, the glucose production from enzymatic hydrolysis of biomass pretreated by torrefaction was greater than that obtained from the non-pretreated biomass. Sugar conversion was higher when the biomass was saccharified with addition of tween-80. It was found that torrefaction can be applied as a preptreatment for lignocellulosic biomass and tween-80 is needed to enhance its enzyme saccharification.

• Journal of the Korea Organic Resources Recycling Association
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.86-94
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• 2015

Torrefaction is a thermochemical process proceeded at the temperature around $250^{\circ}C$ in an inert gas condition. By torrefaction, the hemicellulose portions contained in biomass are broken down to change into the volatile gas which is removed from biomass eventually. The main purpose of biomass torrefaction is to improve the energy density of the biomass to minimize the transport energy consumption, though the flammability can be elevated for transportation. In this study two types of solid biomass fuel, waste wood and rice straw, were torrefied at various temperature range from $200^{\circ}C$ to $300^{\circ}C$ to evaluate the torrefied biomass characteristics. In addition torrefied biomass were tested to evaluate the combustion characteristics using TGA (Thermogravimetric Analysis). After the torrefaction of biomass, the C/H (carbon to hydrogen ratio) and C/O (carbon to oxygen ratio) were measured for aquisition of bio-stability as well as combustion pattern. Generally C/H ratio implies the soot formation during combustion, and the C/O ratio for bio-stability. By torrefaction temperature at $300^{\circ}C$, C/H ratio and C/O ratio were increased by two times for C/H and three times for C/O. The torrefied biomass showed similar TGA pattern to coal compared to pure biomass; that is, less mass decrease at lower temperature range for torrefied biomass than the pure biomass.

• Clean Technology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.73-79
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• 2017

Recently usage of biomass is increased in pulverized coal power plants for reduction of $CO_2$ emission. Many problems arise when thermal share of the biomass is increased, and milling of the biomasses is one of the most important problems due to their low grindability when existing coal pulverizer is used. Grindability of coal can be measured through the HGI (Hardgrove grindability index) equipment as a standard, but method of measuring biomass grindability has not been established yet. In this study, grinding experiment of coal and biomass was performed using a lab-scale ball mill. One type of coal (Adaro coal) and six biomasses (wood pellet (WP), empty fruit bunch (EFB), palm kernel shell (PKS), walnut shell (WS), torrefied wood chip (TBC) and torrefied wood pellet (TWP)) were used in the experiment. Particle size distributions of the fuels were measured after being milled in various pulverization times. Pulverization characteristics were evaluated by portion of particles under the diameter of $75{\mu}m$. As a result, about 70% of the TBC and TWP were observed to be pulverized to sizes of under $75{\mu}m$, which implies that they can be used as alternative biomass fuels without modification of the existing mill. Other biomass was observed to have low grindability compared with torrefied biomass. Power consumption of the mill for various fuels was measured as well, and the results show that lower power was consumed for torrefied biomasses. This result can be used for characterization of biomass as an alternative fuel for pulverized coal power plants.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.6
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• pp.497-506
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• 2013

The optimal condition for the torrefaction of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus) was investigated by response surface methodology. The carbon content in the torrefied biomass increased with the severity factor (SF), while hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased. The calorific value of torrefied biomass ranged from 20.23 to 21.29 MJ/kg, depending on the torrefaction conditions. This implied that the energy contained in the torrefied biomass increased by 1.6 to 6.9%, when compared with that of the untreated biomass. The weight loss of biomass increased as the SF increased. The Code level of reaction temperature had the highest impact on the energy yield of torrefied biomass, while the effect of Code level of reaction time was considerably low. The highest energy yield was obtained at low SF.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.46-53
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• 2021

Biomass can be considered as chemical energy obtained from nature, and includes all living organisms such as plants, animals, and microorganisms. Biomass is eco-friendly, is easily obtainable from the environment, and can be recycled without special treatment processes. Biomass can also be converted into bioenergy fuel through pyrolysis and fermentation. Therefore, it has been considered as a renewable energy source, which prevents the depletion of natural resources such as fossil fuels. In this study, torrefaction to increase the carbon content in various types of biomass sources (sawdust, rice straw, rice bristles, coffee ground, and waste wood) was conducted under an inert atmosphere and at a temperature of 523~573K. The possibility of using torrefied biomass as an alternative to solid fuel for industrial purposes was analyzed by examining the carbon concentration and combustion behaviors.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.37 no.10
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• pp.901-909
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• 2013

Owing to the Increasing use of fossil fuels, worldwide concerns over environmental pollution are increasing. As a solution, ligneous biomass has emerged as a promising alternative fuel in recent times. Therefore, in this study, a moisture evaporation model that largely influences the energy density and efficiency of ligneous biomass is studied using a numerical approach. Furthermore, the thermal characteristics are analyzed in terms of torrefaction temperature and moisture fractions in the wood, and the type of wood species. The results show that the temperature and moisture fractions of wood decrease with an increase in the torrefaction temperature. In particular, when the torrefaction temperature is lower than 423K, there were little changes in the moisture fraction in the wood. Furthermore, it was found that charcoal is produced more slowly as the moisture fraction in the wood increases.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.385-389
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• 2012

In this study, torrefaction of mixed softwood chips under anoxic condition was performed to improve energy density and maintain consistent quality of biomass. Characteristics of torrefied biomass depending on reaction time (30 min) and temperature (240, 260,$280^{\circ}C$) were investigated. Torrefaction of mixed softwood chips significantly improved the heating value compared to that of untreated biomass. As the torrefaction temperature was increased, the carbon content of torrefied biomass increased from 46.55 to 55.73%, while its hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased from 6.00 to 5.87% and from 30.55 to 27.21%, respectively. Most of hemicelluloses and volatile compounds were removed during torrefaction. The highest heating value was 5132 kcal/kg when torrefaction was performed at$280^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. It implied that the heating value increased by 13% compared to that of original biomass. However, the condition of effective torrefaction was at $240^{\circ}C$ for 30 min when weight loss and energy yield was considered.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.239-250
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• 2020

Biomass is an abundant renewable energy resource that can replace fossil fuels for the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG). Indonesia has a large number of cheap biomass feedstocks, such as reforestation (waste wood) and palm residues (empty fruit bunch or EFB). In general, raw biomass contains more than 20% moisture and lacks calorific value, energy density, grindability, and combustion efficiency. Those properties are not acceptable fuel attributes as the conditions currently stand. Recently, torrefaction facilities, especially in European countries, have been built to upgrade raw biomass to solid fuel with high quality. In Korea, there is no significant market for torrefied solid fuel (co-firing) made of biomass residues, and only the wood pellet market presently thrives (~ 2 million ton yr-1). However, increasing demand for an upgraded solid fuel exists. In Indonesia, torrefied woody residues as co-firing fuel are economically feasible under the governmental promotion of renewable energy such as in feed-in-tariff (FIT). EFB, one of the chief palm residues, could replace coal in cement kiln when the emission trading system (ETS) and clean development mechanism (CDM) system are implemented. However, technical issues such as slagging (alkali metal) and corrosion (chlorine) should be addressed to utilize torrefied EFB at a pulverized coal boiler.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.51 no.6
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• pp.739-744
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• 2013

In this study, torrefaction was performed to improve fuel properties of Larch. The optimal condition for torrefaction was investigated by response surface methodology. The torrefaction temperature and time ranged $220{\sim}280^{\circ}C$ and 20~80 min, respectively. As the torrefaction temperature and time increased, the carbon content of torrefied biomass increased from 49.36 to 56.65%, while its hydrogen and oxygen contents decreased from 5.56 to 5.48% and from 37.62 to 31.67%, respectively. The weight loss and calorific value increased with SF, while energy yield decreased. At the severe torrefaction condition (SF 7), the weight loss and calorific value were 26.58% and 22.30 MJ/kg, respectively. The energy contained in torrefied biomass increased to 20.41%, when compared with the untreated biomass. As the torrefaction severity increased, the energy yield decreased due to the relatively high weight loss of biomass. Therefore, the highest energy yield was obtained at high calorific value and low weight loss of biomass (SF 5.72).