Journal of Fundamentals of Renewable Energy and Applications
Open Access

On the durability tests for handling of solid biomass such as wood pellets

International Congress and Expo on Biofuels & Bioenergy

August 25- 27, 2015 Valencia, Spain

Dingena Schott, Ioannis Dafnomilis, Linda Lanphen and Gabriel Lodewijks

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: J Fundam Renewable Energy Appl

Abstract :

Biomass still remains an upcoming market in Europe driven by targets set by the European Commission. Numerous
initiatives are taken to develop and produce new ‘green’ products such as torrefied pellets. While emphasis is on the
product development side, the logistic chain concerning the handling and distribution of the products is often left out of
consideration. Transport and storage of these products seems not to be an issue. However, looking at recent accidents in solid
biomass handling (wood chips and wood pellets) it is clear that focus on the handling is very important from a safety, but
also from an optimized handling point of view. In particular here the generation of dust plays an important role throughout
handling. Dust generation is related to the durability of products, in other words the wear rate of particles subject to forces.
During transport, storage and handling the products are undergoing different forces within different pieces of equipment. For
example impact forces when particles fall down or impact geometries and compressive forces when in storage. Over the years a
standard for wood pellets (EN15210) has been developed to assess the durability of materials amongst others applied to wood
pellets. However, it is unlikely that this is representative for the handling in the whole supply chain because real operational
conditions can greatly differ in terms of forces from tests on lab-scale. Also in industry the problem of dust and fines remains
despite a standard being in place. The objective of this paper is to assess the applicability of the developed durability tests for
wood pellets and torrefied pellets in relation to the handling steps in the whole supply chain. Therefore, first an overview of
the durability tests will be given. Secondly, an analysis of the dominant forces acting on the particles in different equipment
types used in the current supply chain will be presented. Finally conclusions will be given on the usefulness of the standardized
tests, particularly in relation to certification and its applicability to predict the real wear rate when materials are being handled
within the existing supply chain.