Technical Note: Evaluation of a Crucible Furnace Retort for Laboratory Torrefactions of Wood Chips

Authors

  • Thomas L. Eberhardt
  • Karen G. Reed

Keywords:

Biofuels, biomass, moisture, particle size, pyrolysis, thermal degradation

Abstract

Torrefaction is a thermal process that improves biomass performance as a fuel by property enhancements such as decreased moisture uptake and increased carbon density. Most studies to date have used very small amounts of finely ground biomass. This study reports the testing of a crucible furnace retort that was fabricated to produce intermediate quantities of torrefied material and to allow processing of wood chips. Yields ranging from 51 to 96% were impacted to a greater extent by differences in temperature than time of treatment. Although temperature-control issues (gradients, slow heating) were experienced with the crucible furnace retort, this equipment proved to be useful for its intended purpose.

References

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Published

2014-10-06

Issue

Vol. 46 No. 4 (2014)

Section

Research Contributions

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