Storage of torrefied pellets

http://www.bioenergy2020.eu/files/publications/pdf/3DO.2.1_Ehrig_etal_paper_homepage.pdf
Ehrig, R., Gugler, H., Kristöfel, C., Pointner, C., Schmutzer-Roseneder, I., Feldmeier, S., . . . Schipfer, F.Economic comparison of torrefaction-based and conventional pellet production-to-end-use chains.

Storage of torrefied pellets

Initial status

Diameter is 8 mm, their moisture content is about 10%.

Method of storage

After one month storage during January and February 2013, the storage pile was snow-covered and first samples were extracted from the surface and from inside the pile.

After storage status

The pellets on the surface

The surface of the pile is completely decomposed and wet
The consistency of the material is loose, crumbly and very similar to flower pot soil.
This layer of wet material had a depth of ca. 30 cm.

The pellet inside the pile

The torrefied pellets are in their original condition

CONCLUSION: The torrefied pellets purchased from the European market are not hydrophobic and their suitability for uncovered storage is limited.

RECOMMENDATION: The torrefied pellets should be handled, transported and stored similar to wood pellets.

2013-06-20 Day 2 BFN AGM

BFN AGM
Day 1

It is a sunny day. I woke up at 5.45am and felt hungry. There were nothing for me to eat. So I decided to get up and slack on my laptop. I ate my oat at about 6:30am and took a shower. 7:30 am, I was downstair, filling my stomach with delicious breakfast.

8:30am to 9:25am Welcome Remarks
1. CEO of BFN Donald Smith
He said Network's Premise is to satisfy the urgen need to develop sustainable and renewable energy sources from non-food materials. He called for proposal for new feedstocks which is not food and social, economic, environmental sustainability (SEES) proposal as well.

2. A member of the BFN director board Esteban Chornet
To make the biofuel production sustainable, we have to have many small immediate plants and a central depot/biorefinery plant to allow the most economic biofuel production

3. Secretary of BFN Lisa
"Looking for staff and funding is the fun of my job."
It is time to do a focused research and integrate all the research to focus on a set of defined goals, especially the SEES theme.
The most relevant research is one which combined industrial objectives and scientific understanding. Dr. S said that is exactly what my project is.

4. Jorin Mamen
Jorin's speech is so engaging. I totally focused on listening to his speech without making any notes. Now I forgot about what he said. :( That is so sad for me.

10:40am - 12:35pm
Dr S assigned me, Hamid and Asal to different meetings at different platforms. I got the central platform meeting. Dr S made me to present 3 slides before the meeting. So I embraced myself and tried to present what I know. I stammered but I got through it.
For other researchers in Central Platform, they presented mostly about pyrolysis bio-oil.
One interesting one is about Red Mud -- an alkali waste product of aluminum extraction (Bayce) process, which consist of Fe2O3, Al2O3, SiO2, and other oxide of metals. Dr Marcel Schiaf said that the red mud can be used to neutralize acidic pyrolysis bio-oil. Red mud itself will be partially reduced to simpler iron/titanium ore and bio-oil is activated to a neutral clear organic liquid.

1:30-2:30pm
Professor in Chemical Engineering Dept of UQTR
Described a reactor mobile to produce pyrolysis bio-oil.
His final messages are
1. Techno-economic studies are MANDATORY before implementing any biofuel refinery
2. Proper use of biomass will be a key Canadian asset in the future due to the size in forest residue available to us
3. Cost is always a problem, but when crude oil is high in price, biofuel will be attractive. Also, climate change is a good driver for the biofuel research, but it is not everything.

Day 1 in BFN AGM

BFN AGM

Day 1 (June 19, 2013)

Arrive at Holiday Inn Midtown Montreal at 5pm, Paid Taxi $45

6:30pm to 9pm

Reception and Registration

1.       Meet David (UBC MASc) here, talked about his research on TGA, he said there is a lot of (Gaussian) noise.

2.       Meet BFN talent manager, he is very good at marketing his idea. He said for emailing, I only need to be myself. Be polite enough, the email recipient will understand.

3.       Talked to a group of U of Toronto students (1 MSc and 2 Phd). They’re doing combustion modeling, modeling of black soot from biomass combustion

4.       Talk to Annie from BFN! :D She said sometimes when she is busy, she might answer very short and to the point. So don’t take it personally.

5.       Meet an Indian guy from U of Western Ontario (?), He worked on upgrade of bio-oil by fractionation for his Master. Currently he is a research engineer for his research group , researching on bitumen.

6.       Meet a Vietnamese guy (Nyguen), MSc in University of Manitoba. He worked on finding which gene in wheat control the expression of lignin. There is actually 10 types of lignin in wheat. He worked  on Eucalyptus plantation for his Master in Vietnam. To solve the problem with Eucalptus, he suggested rotation with other plants.

2013-06-15 Link for ECN biomass

ECN is the Energy research Center of Netherlands.
It provides an extensive database on the chemical and physical properties of biomass, such as elemental composition, calorific values and so on. The link is as below.
http://www.ecn.nl/phyllis2/

The terms, such as HHV, LHV, ultimate analysis and proximate analysis, used in this database is defined by the link below:
http://www.ecn.nl/phyllis/defs.asp

Today I'm reading ECN slides/report, entitled "Torrefaction – product quality optimisation in view of logistics and end-use". The internet link for the report is shown below.
http://www.ecn.nl/docs/library/report/2013/l13028.pdf