Analysis of Mechanical Durability, Hydrophobicity, Pyrolysis and Combustion Properties of Solid Biofuel Pellets Made from Mildly Torrefied Biomass
Bibliographic record
Abstract
The production of solid biofuels from torrefied biomass holds significant potential for renewable energy applications. Durable pellet formation from severely torrefied biomass is hindered by the loss of natural binding properties, yet studies on mild torrefaction that preserves sufficient binding capacity for pellet production without external binders or changes to die conditions remain scarce. This paper investigated the production of fuel pellets from torrefied biomass without using external binders or adjusting pelletization parameters. Experiments were conducted using a mild torrefaction temperature (230 °C and 250 °C) and shorter residence time (10, 15, and 30 min). The torrefied materials were then subjected to pelletization using a single-pellet press; and the influence of torrefaction on the mechanical durability, hydrophobicity, and fuel characteristics of the pellets was examined. Results indicated that the mass loss ranging from 10 to 20% among the mild torrefaction treatments was less than the typical extent of mass loss due to severe torrefaction. Pellets made from torrefied biomass (torrefied pellets) had improvement in the hydrophobicity (moisture resistance) when compared to pellets made from untreated biomass (untreated pellets). Improved hydrophobicity is important for storage and transportation of pellets that are exposed to humid environmental conditions, as it reduces the risk of pellet degradation and spoilage. Thermogravimetric analysis of the pyrolysis and combustion behaviour of torrefied pellets indicated the improvement of fuel characteristics in terms of a much higher comprehensive pyrolysis index and greater thermal stability compared to untreated pellets, as evidenced by the prolonged burnout time and reduced combustion characteristics index. Residence time had a more significant impact on pellet durability than temperature, but the durability of the torrefied pellets was lower than that of the untreated pellets. Further research is required to explore the feasibility of producing binder-free durable pellets under mild torrefaction conditions. Overall, the study demonstrated that mild torrefaction could enhance the fuel quality and moisture resistance of biomass pellets, offering promising advantages for energy applications, despite some trade-offs in mechanical durability.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".