Research of bulk density of ground plant raw material

Abstract

A stable trend of development of fuels and energy production which are alternatives to traditional energy sources, means that raw material pretreatment technology is also a wide field of investigation. The heat value of a volumetric unit of a fuel is the main characteristic of the raw material. One of the methods of raising this parameter is raising fuel bulk density. To raise the bulk density of a fuel a design of an experimental installation is proposed. A poly fractional mixture of ground plant raw material is used as a fuel. An investigation is made with a multi-factor experiment. Varied factors were: a fractional composition of a ground plant raw material, a moisture content of the mixture, a coefficient of compaction of the mixture. A ground plant raw material bulk density was investigated. A regression equation was composed and response surfaces were built according to the results of the experiment. When producing energy the fuel layer porosity should be 0.54–0.61, that is obtained at bulk density 200–250 kg/m3. It is important for providing normal conditions of heat-mass exchange processes. The abovementioned bulk density range was obtained experimentally at moisture content of 20 %, small fraction content of 50 % and coefficient of compaction of 1.4. The received results provide controllable technological process of fuel and energy production. Namely depending on composition and moisture content of primary raw material such coefficient of compaction could be picked that provides needed fuel layer porosity. The investigation could be used to choose an equipment and compaction method of raw material to produce fuels and energy.