USE OF PLANT MATERIAL AS SOLID BIOFUEL

Abstract

The paper presents an assessment of the quality and specific energy of solid biofuels from selected plant materials. They used wheat straw, rye straw, corn straw, rapeseed straw and meadow hay. Plant materials were crushed using a stationary crusher with a theoretical cutting length of 20 mm before briquetting and a hammer crusher equipped with a sieve with an opening with a diameter of 8 mm before molding into granules. The moisture content of the compacted raw materials was determined by drying, and their calorific value with a calorimeter. Agglomeration of plant materials included a granulation press with a fixed one-sided flat matrix driven by sealing rolls and a spiral briquette press with a heated compaction chamber. The studies covered measurements of mechanical strength and specific energy in the agglomeration of plant materials used. The results of tests of the quality and specific energy of biofuel production were subjected to statistical analysis.