• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.190-199
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• 2017

Air-blown Gasification of coal and torrefied biomass mixture is conducted on fixed-bed gasifier. The various ratio (9:1, 8:2, 7:3) of coal and torrefied biomass mixture are used. The contents of $H_2$, CO in the syngas were increased with gasification temperature. Carbon conversion tend to increase with temperature and equivalence ratio (ER). However, cold gas efficiency showed maximum point in ER range of 0.26-0.36. The torrefied biomass showed highest cold gas efficiency of 67.5% at $934^{\circ}C$, ER 0.36. Gasification of 8:2 mixture showed the highest carbon conversion and cold gas efficiency and synergy effect.

• 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 Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.34-45
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• 2016

Global warming and climate change have been caused by combustion of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gases contributed to the rise of temperature between $0.6^{\circ}C$ and $0.9^{\circ}C$ over the past century. Presently, fossil fuels account for about 88% of the commercial energy sources used. In developing countries, fossil fuels are a very attractive energy source because they are available and relatively inexpensive. The environmental problems with fossil fuels have been aggravating stress from already existing factors including acid deposition, urban air pollution, and climate change. In order to control greenhouse gas emissions, particularly CO2, fossil fuels must be replaced by eco-friendly fuels such as biomass. The use of renewable energy sources is becoming increasingly necessary. The biomass resources are the most common form of renewable energy. The conversion of biomass into energy can be achieved in a number of ways. The most common form of converted biomass is pellet fuels as biofuels made from compressed organic matter or biomass. Pellets from lignocellulosic biomass has compared to conventional fuels with a relatively low bulk and energy density and a low degree of homogeneity. Thermal pretreatment technology like torrefaction is applied to improve fuel efficiency of lignocellulosic biomass, i.e., less moisture and oxygen in the product, preferrable grinding properties, storage properties, etc.. During torrefacton, lignocelluosic biomass such as palm kernell shell (PKS) and empty fruit bunch (EFB) was roasted under an oxygen-depleted enviroment at temperature between 200 and $300^{\circ}C$. Low degree of thermal treatment led to the removal of moisture and low molecular volatile matters with low O/C and H/C elemental ratios. The mechanical characteristics of torrefied biomass have also been altered to a brittle and partly hydrophobic materials. Unfortunately, it was much harder to form pellets from torrefied PKS and EFB due to thermal degradation of lignin as a natural binder during torrefaction compared to non-torrefied ones. For easy pelletization of biomass with torrefaction, pellets from PKS and EFB were manufactured before torrefaction, and thereafter they were torrefied at different temperature. Even after torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, their appearance was well preserved with better fuel efficiency than non-torrefied ones. The physical properties of the torrefied pellets largely depended on the torrefaction condition such as reaction time and reaction temperature. Temperature over $250^{\circ}C$ during torrefaction gave a significant impact on the fuel properties of the pellets. In particular, torrefied EFB pellets displayed much faster development of the fuel properties than did torrefied PKS pellets. During torrefaction, extensive carbonization with the increase of fixed carbons, the behavior of thermal degradation of torrefied biomass became significantly different according to the increase of torrefaction temperature. In conclusion, pelletization of PKS and EFB before torrefaction made it much easier to proceed with torrefaction of pellets from PKS and EFB, leading to excellent eco-friendly fuels.

• 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.

• Journal of Korea Technical Association of The Pulp and Paper Industry
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.24-34
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• 2015

Domestic companies supplying electricity must increase obligatory duty to use renewable energy annually. If not met with obligatory allotment, the electricity-supply companies must pay RPS (Renewable Portfolio Standards) penalty. Although the power plants using a pulverizing coal firing boiler could co-fire up to around 3 per cent with wood pellets mixed in with coal feedstock without any major equipment revamps, they recorded only about 60 per cent fulfillment of RPS. Consequently, USD 46 million of RPS penalty was imposed on the six power supplying subsidiaries of GENCOs in 2014. One of the solutions to reduce the RPS penalty is that the power supply companies adopt the co-firing of torrefied lignocellulosic biomass in coal plants, which may contribute to the use of over 30 per cent of torrefied biomass mixed with bituminous coals. Extra binder was required to form pellets using torrefied biomass such as wood chips, PKS (Palm Kernel Shell) and EFB (Empty Fruit Bunch). Instead of corn starch, 30, 50 and 70 per cent of Larix saw dusts were respectively added to the torrefied feedstocks such as Pinus densiflora chips, PKS and EFB. The addition of saw dusts led to the decrease of the calorific values of the pellets but the forming ability of the pelletizer was exceedingly improved. Another advantage from the addition of saw dusts stemmed from the reduction of ash contents of the pellets. Finally, it was confirmed that torrefied oil palm biomass such as PKS and EFB could be valuable feedstocks in making pellets through improved binding ability.

• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.683-690
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• 2017

Wood pellet (WP), empty fruit bunch (EFB) and palm kernel shell (PKS) which are biomass fuels for power generation are selected to study the characteristics of torrefaction process. These biomass fuels are torrefied at $220^{\circ}C$, $250^{\circ}C$, and $280^{\circ}C$. The heating value of biomass fuels is increased depending on the torrefaction temperature. However, due to energy yield decline, it is not always desirable to torrefy biomass at higher temperature. Considering the mass yield and energy yield after torrefaction, the most proper temperature conditions for torrefaction of WP is $250-280^{\circ}C$ and for EFB, PKS are $220-250^{\circ}C$. Additionally, to investigate the phenomenons of chlorine release during torrefaction process, Ion Chromatography (IC) method was used. In the case of EFB and PKS torrefied at $300^{\circ}C$, the chlorine component has been reduced by 97.5% and 95.3% compared to the raw biomass, respectively. In conclusion, torrefied biomass can be used as alternative fuels in replacement of coals for both aspects of heating value and chlorine corrosion problems.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.263-263
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• 2014

Low temperature pyrolysis of woody biomass has been conducted to produce highcalorie torrefied fuel. In this experiment, to maximize the energy efficiency in heat transfer, flue gas is directly used for heat source in the torrefier. To accomplish the oxygen free environment in the torrefaction reactor, a burner has been developed and it can be runned with fuel rich state. An inner central axis rotating type of reactor was applied in experiment. To use the calorific gases produced from torrefier, another burner is developed to combust them.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.375-378
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• 2014

In this study, we carried out torrefaction experiment using PKS(Palm Kernel Shell), and Bagasse as a raw material of oversee of herbaceous biomass and using waste wood and logging residue as a raw material of domestic of woody biomass. And then, by analyzing the physical & chemical properties, we investigated the characteristics as a fuel. By using the result of thermo gravimetric analysis, the biomass residue was torrefied for 30 minutes at a temperature range of $250-350^{\circ}C$ in anaerobic condition. As a result, torrefied materials of moisture content are lower than raw, but of fixed carbon, calorific value and ash are higher than raw.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.96-105
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• 2016

This study investigated thermal properties and activation energy ($E_a$) of torrefied oak wood powders treated with various torrefaction times (0, 5, 7.5, 10 min) by using non-isothermal thermogravimetric analysis at heating rates of 10, 20, $40^{\circ}C/min$ to check the feasibility of rapidly torrefied oak wood powders as a fuel. As the torrefaction time increases, onset of thermal decomposition temperature, lignin content, and the amount of final residue of torrefied oak wood powders were accordingly increased with reduced hemicellulose content. $E_a$ was determined by using Friedman and Kissinger models and respective R-square values were over 0.9 meaning very good availability of calculated $E_a$ values. The $E_a$ values of the samples were decreased with the increase of torrefaction time and the lowest $E_a$ value ob served in the torrefied oak wood powders treated for 7.5 min showed high feasibility of rapidly torrefied oak wood powder as a biomass-solid refuse fuel.