Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 2090-4541
+44 1300 500008
Muhammad Azam Saeed
University of Leeds, UK
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl
Replacement of environmental damaging coal with sustainable renewable fuel is needed to promote renewable electricity and heat generation. Renewable biofuel is an appropriate substitute of coal for existing coal power generation plants. The biofuels are pulverised and flame propagation occurs in a mixed pulverised biomass and air flow. The physics of flame propagation relevant to burners is identical to that which occurs in propagating pulverised biomass flames in explosions, which was the experimental technique used in the present work. Biofuels carry fire/explosibility risks in their handling and there is little published in formation on this as the standard equipment does not work with fibrous biomass. The reliable measurements of the reactivity parameters for these biofuels depend on multiple factors such as fuel properties and their size distribution. Thermal pre-treatments of biofuels such as torrefaction and steam explosion break up the biomass fibres and the resultant fuel mills in a similar way to coal and the standard injection equipment for explosibility tests can be used. In this work, different size fractions of steam exploded wood (black pellets) were tested using a modified 1 m3 vessel and compared for their burning characteristics with the original yellow pine biomass. Explosibility properties, Kst and flame speed, were higher for the fine fraction as compared to the coarse size fraction. MEC were measured from 0.14 to around 2 in terms of burnt equivalence ratio for fine to coarse size range fractions. Maximum explosion pressures relative to atmospheric pressure and dust constant were measured to be 7 to 8.6 barg and Kst 43 to 122 bar m/s depending on the fineness of the fraction. Surface morphological study showed more fines for the steam exploded sample in comparison to its raw wood.
Email: pmmas@leeds.ac.uk