Continuous Pyrolysis Most Suitable For Bulk Raw Materials

Bulk raw materials such as palm shells, rice husks, sawdust, peanut shells, coffee husk and so, if will be charred or carbonized best suited with continuous pyrolysis. This is because the bulk of raw materials can flow or poured into a container such as a pipe. Retort type pyrolysis by an auger inside it will push along the retort and into charcoal at the outlet. JFBC continuous pyrolysis is one of them and is capable of producing charcoal up to 70 tonnes/day in its largest unit. Raw material with size upto 1 inch is accepted in the pyrolysis unit. It will be difficult when using batch pyrolysis because it will take a long time and process control also not easy. In the retort pyrolysis temperature, timing and heating rate control also easy to do. The process time on a continuous pyrolysis is also fast and very different to the type of batch that takes days and even up weekly.

In addition to the continuous pyrolysis will produce a number of side products that also have economic value, which is generally to be difficult in a batch pyrolysis. Pyrolysis by-products include wood vinegar / liquid smoke, bio-oil, tar and syngas. Utilization of wood vinegar / liquid smoke, among others as a fish preservative or rubber coagulant. Bio-oil is used as fuel for the boiler and can be upgraded to vehicle fuel. Tar also can be as fuel and syngas because large amount could be as a source of heat to electricity generation.

 

Some industries require charcoal in the size of the bulk because of the charcoal into a material that ready for them. Agricultural charcoal (biochar), charcoal for activated charcoal raw material in various purification industries from the food sector, mining and even oil and gas, hereinafter the steel industry and others. The bulk charcoal as raw material will reduce production costs for the downstream industry, if the particle size and shape according to the needs of the industry concerned or ready-made, so the cost of downsizing (size reduction) could be eliminated if use large-sized charcoals.

Biochar Based Slow Release Fertilizer And Soil Quality Improvement In Indonesian Palm Oil Plantation

Photo taken from here

Expansion (extensification) of palm oil plantation in Indonesia increasingly encouraged to pursue non-oil commodities. The allocation or designation of land for oil palm plantations should be done with careful consideration and comprehensive, so it does not upset the balance of the environment. This factor which highlighted a lot of environmentalists, and the user market oil products from Indonesia. Another factor that I think needs to be considered is the productivity of the oil palm plantation itself. With good farming techniques or start intensification then I am sure Indonesia will increase the productivity of palm oil.

Compared to Malaysia with palm plantation productivity 3.5 tons of CPO per ha, while Indonesia only 2.5 tons of CPO ha per year. Due to differences in the productivity of Malaysia's vast palm plantation only 61.5% of the area of ​​Indonesia but is capable of producing up to 17 million tons of CPO or 85.3% of Indonesia's CPO production. In this case, Indonesia needs to learn from Malaysia. Currently, the land has been planted with oil palm in Indonesia has 7.8 million ha, about 16.5% of the farms and plantations or 8.3% of the total forest area. There are still 7 million ha of arable land palm, a great opportunity to increase the production of CPO and its derivatives. Trade policy of developed countries that want to kill off Indonesia palm oil industry as edible oil industry afraid to compete with palm oil needs attention is important for the government for the betterment of the palm oil industry in Indonesia. All of the government, NGOs and industry have one vote for this.

Increased productivity is one of them with a good fertilization and using quality fertilizer. If you see activity on the production of CPO will be a lot of waste biomass produced can be used to meet energy needs and CPO mill byproduct of biochar. As a porous material that has the ability as adsorbent, biochar able to hold nutrients and water for longer, so that it can act as a slow release fertilizer. When all the oil mill biomass waste can be converted into energy and fertilizer byproducts biocharnya to the oil mill has reduced global warming (carbon neutral fuel with biomass and carbon negative with biochar application) and absolutely zero waste. This obviously also be a solution to the negative campaigning of oil palm plantations in Indonesia. Reliable continuous pyrolysis technology appropriate to the scale of the pool is a necessity. JF BioCarbon will able to answer it.

Judging from the condition of the global climate, carbon balance balance between the expansion of palm oil plantations, the carbon released when the process of biochar production by pyrolysis and carbon sequestration from the atmosphere by biochar. Optimization of the three will give the best results for the environment, human welfare and ecosystem.

7 Reasons Why Future of World Economy Depends on Renewable Energy

There are various reasons as to why the global economic future depends on alternative renewable energy sources. Here are seven of these reasons.

1. Reducing the effects of global warming. Alternative renewable energy sources will provide a solution to the ecological crisis that is caused in part by global warming. If the switch to alternative renewable energy sources is not made soon, this may have a very serious impact on the world economy and the world’s communities.
2. Fossil fuels are running out. Oil and natural gas are not infinite and will run out eventually. Even before they run out, they will become increasingly expensive because of scarcity. The resulting energy crisis will have a devastating impact on the global economy.
3. Reducing pollution. Alternative renewable energy sources are a wonderful way for reducing the global levels of pollution. For example, waste to energy is a great method of turning discarded trash into desperately needed energy to power and heat our homes.
   
   
4. Supporting developing countries. The need for energy goes up every year, especially as more developing countries advance. When they have access to domestically produced energy, it will make their development process easier, as local economies benefit from the abundance of businesses and jobs. The countries of the future will be the countires that are embracing green energy sources right now. Look at China – they got into the act this last few years as they understand that there future depends on it. More and more countries are taking action. Anything to do with the green economy is going to be huge in the next few decades.

5. Moving away from foreign oil dependency. It is possible to produce alternative renewable energy sources domestically in every country. This means that no nation will depend on another to provide it with the means to produce energy, as well as a cleaner domestic environment overall.
6.  Investing in alternative energy. It is a smart choice to invest in alternative energy. This means that it is not only a great opportunity to help our planet, but also one to receive a good financial return in the end. 
7. Creating green jobs. Many new jobs would be created once the switch to alternative renewable energy sources is made. Factory jobs would be needed, since the manufacturing of energy source components is needed. Technicians would be needed to install, service, and repair those energy source components, like wind turbines, solar panels, or municipal waste pyrolyzer.

While for the specific reasons on the biomass for energy with thermal energy conversion route, please click here.

For the original article, click here

For more information, go to:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy

Huge Demand of Torrified Biomass For Energy Application

Biomass ranks fourth as energy resource on global basis. Biomass is CO2 neutral and contains very little sulfur, hence it does not contribute greatly to acid-rain problems. Biomass have unique role on a renewable energy source.While the growing need for sustainable electric power can be met by other renewables, biomass is our only renewable source of carbon-based fuels and chemicals. Bioenergy is the word used for energy associated to biomass, and biofuel is the bioenergy carrier, transporting solar energy stored as chemical energy. Biofuels can be considered a renewable source of energy as long as they based on sustainable biomass production.

As Europe is very much the center of the global wood fuel market in general and the wood pellet/briquette market in particular, it comes as no surprise that vast majority of big wood fuel producers  of many countries have European countries as their final destination. With the goal set by the European Union to achieve a 20% share of renewable energy in the energy mix and a 20% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020 (DIRECTIVE 2009/28/EC, 2009) it is likely that the increase in EU demand for bioenergy will accelerate. However, it is also likely that a large share of future use of bioenergy in Europe will be from biomass of non-European origin as the resources are unlikely to be cost cost-competitive compared to biomass to biomass imported from other parts of the world.  

Trading wood fuel is always complex due to the biomass itself being both low in value per volume unit as well as difficult to store and transport as a result of it being a “living material” and hence susceptible to degradation from biological processes. Torrefaction is a technology to improve the quality of the biomass fuel and is followed by densification (pelleting / briquetting) will save transportation costs. Torrefaction has many advantages that overcome some problems in the wood fuel in general.

The quantities of biomass co-fired in large coal fired and other fossil fuel-fired power plant boiler have increased fairly dramatically over the past few years, particularly in Northern Europe but also elsewhere in the world. The level of co-firing activity worldwide, and the co-firing ratios at specific plants, are likely to increase further over the next few years.

Biomass materials have significant levels of inorganic matter as impurities, and many of the practical problems encountered with the combustion of biomass materials, or the co-combustion of biomass materials with coal and other fossil fuel, are associated with the nature and behaviour of the biomass ash and the other inorganic constituents. In practical terms, the ash-related problems in biomass combustors and boilers, and in plants co-firing biomass with more conventional fossil fuels, have commonly been associated with:

-The formation of fused or partly fused ash agglomerates and slag deposits at high temperature within furnaces;

-The formation of bonded ash deposits at lower gas temperatures on the heat exchange surfaces in the boiler convective sections and elsewhere;

-The accelerated metal wastage of boiler components due to gas-side corrosion and erosion;

-The formation and emmision of sub-micron aerosols and fumes; and

-The handling and utilization/disposal of ash residues from biomass combustion plants, and of the mixed ash residues from the co-firing of biomass in coal-fired boilers.

In very general terms, the nature of the problems and the impact on plant perfomance depend both on the characteristics of the biomass fuel, i.e. principally on the ash content and the ash chemistry, and on the design and operation of the combustion equipment and the boiler. Raw material have significant role of the densified (pellet/briquette) torrefied biomass quality. We will choose raw material with low ash content and a high ash melting temperature.

The peat and coal have the higher ash contents, but only a relatively small portion of the mineral material is in the water and acetate soluble fractions and is considered to contribute to the formation of the fine ash/aerosol material. In the case of the biomass materials, the total mineral contents are lower, but a much higher proportion of the mineral material is considered to contribute to the formation of the fine ash/aerosol fraction. The ash residue is normally weighed to provide an estimate of the ash content of the fuel, and then analysed for the ten major elements present in coal ashes, i.e. SiO2, Al2O3, Fe2O3, CaO, MgO, TiO, Na2O, K2O3, P2O5 dan SO3.

Usually slagging takes place with biomass fuels containing more than 4% ash and non-slagging fuels with ash content less than 4%. The ash content of different types of biomass is an indicator of slagging behaviour of the biomass. Generally, the greater the ash content, the greater the slagging behaviour. But this does not mean that biomass with lower ash content will not show any slagging behaviour. The temperature of combustion temperature, the mineral compostion of ash and their percentage combined determine the slagging behaviour. If conditions are favorable, the the degree of slagging will be greater. Minerals like SiO2, Na2O and K2O3 are more trouble some.

The selection of raw materials is an important factor for the production of torrified biomass. High quality torrified biomass need to be produced to meet a variety of industrial and domestic needs. Chemical treatment of raw materials can be made ​​to increasing the quality of raw materials, but it will do if the quality of raw materials is not sufficient anymore. Finally a reliable technology for the production of  torrified biomass absolutely necessary to meet those needs.

Effect of Heating Rate in Pyrolysis Process

The rate of heating of the biomass particle has an important influence on yield and composition of the product. Rapid heating to a moderate temperature (400-600 oC) yields higher volatiles and hence more liquid, while slower heating to that temperature produces more char. The operating parameters of a pyrolyzer are adjusted to meet the requirement of the final product of interest. Tentative design norms for heating in a pyrolyzer include the following :

-To maximize char production, use a slow heating rate (<0.01-2.0 oC/s), a low final temperature, and a long gas residence time.
-To maximize liquid yield, use a high heating rate, a moderate final temperature (450-600 oC), and a short gas resiedence time.
-To maximize gas production, use a slow heating rate, a high final temperature (700-900 oC), and a long gas residence time.

Production of charcoal through carbonization uses the first norm, more detail about our pyrolyzer please click here or if you want more considerations about charcoal production please click here.

Only With Continuous Pyrolysis, Charcoal Briquette Industry Will Get a Supply Of High Quality Raw Materials

Charcoal briquette plant with a large capacity can only be supplied charcoal produced from continuous pyrolysis technology. The quality of products are standard and stable as well as the quantity of large quantities can only be met when using continuous pyrolysis technology in the process of charcoal production. Charcoal of satisfactory market quality can be made in kilns of any size or type when suitable coaling temperature and time conditions are present. It is perhaps more difficult to produce charcoal of consistently high quality in uninsulated metal kilns because of rapid and large heat loss.

The growing popularity of charcoal briquette has spurred great interest recently because its benefit on specific fuel application. Some information on plant equipment, manufacturing detail and the practicability of briquette production with contionous pyrolysis system to provide a few items of special interest.

Equipment : The equipment required for briquette manufacture is highly specialized. Powered units are required for grinding and mixing dry and wet charcoal, wet forming the briquettes, moving material in the process, and continous drying. Production rates are 1 to 3.5 tons of briquettes per hour. The equipment for both capacities is basically the same, but somewhat larger and heavier machines are needed for 3.5 ton output. Standard equipment for a 1-ton-per-hour briquetting plant includes the following :

-Briquette press with paddle feeder

-Hammer mill

-Charcoal feeder with surge hopper

-Paddle mixer

-Vertical fluxer

-Starch feeder or pump

-Briquette drier

-Boiler, 30 horsepower - - 15 pounds per square inch gage pressure

-Conveyors

-Bagging machine

-Building, 60 feet by 120 feet, with 20 feet clear height.

The labor requirements per shift are eight men, including a foreman, a machine operator, a night-shift maintenance man, a bagger and three men for warehouse and miscellaneous jobs.

Plant processing :-In general , charcoal lump and fines as received or from plant storage are fed by screw conveyor to hammer mill or crusher for feed material of 1/8-inch and smaller screen size. The ground charcoal is moved mechanically or by air to a surge bin for metered flows to the mixer, metered amounts of about 5 percent of binder (potato, corn or cassava starch) with water are added. After agiataion in a paddle mixer, the mixture is run through the fluxer for more throrough working of the mass before it is transferred to the press feeder for regulated flow to the forming press.

From the press, the wet or green briquettes are moved by belt conveyor to a special device for uniform loading and continous passage through the drier. The conditions for the drying are usually a 3-to 4-hour period at a temperature of about 275 F. The processing steps are carried out as shown in figure below.

Because of the large daily charcoal requirements and the investment necessary for even the smallest commercial briquette operation, it is not practical for the smaller kiln operator to undertake such manufacture. Operating the smallest commercial plant at a production rate of about 10 tons of briquette per day would require at least 250 tons of charcoal monthly.  Briquetting plants usually operate on two or three shifts per day for most economical production.

 

Only charcoal plant with level of production above 10 tons/day adequate for charcoal briquette plants need.  JFE project can provide charcoal plant (continous pyrolysis technology)  to meet that needs include high specification (quality) of charcoal requirement if it’s needed.