Summary [1] on Canadian Biomass Magazine

News 1: 2G CENERGY CHP supplier selling direct
Release Date: August 19, 2013

2G CENERGY CHP  , which is based in St. Augustine, Florida, USA advertises their cogeneration systems.

News 2: Pellet Gear Buyer Guide 2013

This Canadian Biomass Pellet Gear Buyer Guide lists companies that provide the relevant products or services for each of the following categories: dryers, pneumatic conveying ("air conveyor"), hammermills, pellet mills, screens and coolers, fire/spark detection and suppression technology, bagging and palletizing [Palletizer is a machine that provides automatic means for stacking cases of goods or products on to a flat transport structure (pallet)], dies and rolls, quality control equipment and services, and building contractors and engineering firms.

News 3: Norsask Powers Up

Norsask Forest Products lumber operation in northwestern Saskatchewan is expanding its bioenergy portfolio. Norsask is wholly owned by Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC), which in turn owned by nine First Nations communities around Meadow Lake.

MLTC currently has a R&D scale pellet plant and marketing arm, which produces up to 1 ton/hr. However, different than Canada's mainstream export-driven pellet industry, they plan to produce enough pellets to develop and feed five local pilot heating projects and to reduce the the dependence of local communities on oil or propane.

At the same time, MLTC attemps to get a massive 40 MW power generation project going (36 MW net). The $210 million project uses the residues from Norsask sawmill to generate power for local communities.

News 4: Plant could lead to cheaper cellulosic ethanol

The small flowering plant (pictured), Arabidopsis thaliana, produces an enzyme, caffeoyl shikimate esterase, whose genes can be switched off to control the formation of lignin. By blocking the production of this complex polymer, the researchers found that molecular structure of its lgnin was altered and became less complex, making it a more easily digestible feedstock to turn into fuels.

News 5: EU leaks biomass sustainability rules
The European Commission will seek to introduce EU-wide binding sustainability criteria for solid and gaseous biomass, according to a leaked draft of the directive proposals, but a date for its publication has still not been set despite market stakeholders waiting more than two years for the announcement.

All news can be found on Canadian Biomass Magazine website at http://www.canadianbiomassmagazine.ca/

Fuel Characteristics of (1) Glycerol and (2) Yam peel Briquettes

As a by-product of biodiesel production, glycerol seems like a good candidate for fuel application.
However, according to this review paper, it is NOT!
The reasons are:

1. Low calorific value (~18.0 MJ/kg) compared to kerosene and gasoline (~40 MJ/kg), making it incapable to sustain a stable flame in a conventional burner
2. High self-ignition temperature (370°C) compared to gasoline (280°C) and kerosene (210°C)
3. Its viscosity is high, making it hard to be atomized.
4. High salt content (ash content of ~3.5%), can cause corrosion in the burner injectors and in post-combustion systems.
5. One of the products of glycerol combustion is acrolein, an hazardous irritant and a possible carcinogen.

In a separate paper, the fuel quality of yam peel briquettes was investigated. If you click the link, it will direct you to download the PDF of the paper.

I was interested with this paper because yam is one of my favorite food. The fuel quality is decent, but not as good as commercial wood pellets that Pinnacle Renewable Energy Group made. Below lists the comparison between these two fuels.

1. Gross calorific value as received (the analysis basis is not stated in the paper)
   Yam peel briquette: 17.5 MJ/kg ; PREG Wood pellet: 19.0 MJ/kg
2. Moisture and ash content as received (basis not stated)
   Yam peel briquette: 11.0%, 3.9% ; Wood pellet: 6.0%, 1.0%
3. Sulphur and nitrogen content (dry basis)
   Yam peel briquette:  1.4%, 1.4% ; Wood pellet: <0.02%, <0.05%
4. Bulk density
   Yam peel briquette: 500 kg/m3 ; Wood pellet: 700 kg/m3

As you see from the above comparison, you can see that the briquette fuel quality is inferior compared to wood pellet. However, quoting the paper, it is a good fuel for "household cooking and small scale industrial cottage application".

Idea Collection 1

I found that writing notes on pieces of paper help me to take note of my ideas and to organize my thoughts. But, I simply cannot write all my ideas on ONE piece of paper.
Thus, the problem of having hundreds of pieces of paper lying in my file, my office desk, and my personal table and thousands of ideas on those pieces of paper make going back to them very difficult.

So, I decided to stay writing them down in my blog once in a while.
This is my 1st Idea Collection! Let me embrace the chaos of the paper tiger!

IDEAS

1. "Through model selection, I found these variables are significant and provide the best fit.
   Paracemoneous : simplest plausible model with the fewest possible number of variables
2. Particle density = the weight of one pellet / the volume of one pellet
   The volume of one pellet is calculated from its dimensions (i.e. diameter and length), which in turn, measured using a caliper.
   Bulk density = weight of material in a container with a defined volume/ the defined volume
   True density = solid density = density measured using pycnometer!
   [Jun 5, 2013] Dr. Peng mentioned that pellet's bulk density is NOT a function of particle size. In fact, the pellet bulk density is the same for materials with different particle sizes!
3. If the fuel has higher degree of hydrogen saturation (mass of hydrogen per mole of fuel/ total mass per mole of the fuel), its heating value is higher. <-- more of my own speculation?? I'm not sure.

My COMMENTS

There are more things that were written down but they're mostly tasks and thoughts that either have already been implemented or is out-of-my-current-context. Seems like I'm doing decently well putting together my thoughts and reaffirmed that my paper-note-taking is worth while.

I look forward my next idea collection! :)

Expression of Uncertainties

According to Dr. S, there are actually uncertainties that I have not considered in my project. Personally, I'm not too sure what is uncertainties.
Dr. S told me to refer to ISO standards on estimating the uncertainties. Then I search on ISO uncertainties on Google. Holly molly, the ISO document is expensive, some of those is over $100.

Then I read this paper. A Comprehensive Comparison of Uncertainty Analysis Tools, and found that there is a guide called, Guide to the expression of Uncertainty in Measurement.

What's better is that the guide is FREE! :D

Here is the link! http://www.bipm.org/en/publications/guides/gum.html

Everything free is good for poor grad student like me.. :)