Characterization, Evaluation and Performance Optimization of Wheat Straw – Bagasse Fuel Pellets
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Date
2024-11
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Kenyatta University
Abstract
The current transition of the utilization of fossil fuels to sources of renewable energy has
led to the exploitation of biomass energy from agricultural residues such as wheat straw
and bagasse. The conversion of biomass waste into fuel pellets will provide an alternative
source of reliable and affordable energy for cooking. This would help to curb the issue of
over-dependence on fuel wood which results in deforestation. This research focused on
the characterization, evaluation and performance optimization of wheat straw – bagasse
fuel pellets. Wheat straw and bagasse were compacted to form fuel pellets. However, the
fuel pellets could not be utilized directly before investigating their properties in order to
determine their quality. The physical characteristics of the fuel pellets that were
investigated included the moisture content, volatile matter, fixed carbon, ash content,
calorific value, bulk density and mechanical durability. The effect of blend ratio,
moisture content and raw material particle size on the ignition time, burning rate and
specific fuel consumption of the wheat straw – bagasse blended fuel pellets was also
studied. The water boiling test was used to determine the ignition time, burning rate and
specific fuel consumption of the fuel pellets. This study involved varying four particle
sizes (2 mm, 4 mm, 6 mm, 10 mm), four levels of moisture content (9.1%, 10.6%, 12.6%,
14.7%) and four blend ratios (10:90, 30:70, 70:30, 90:10). The results revealed that the
fuel pellets with larger particles size, low moisture content and blends containing more
bagasse had favorable burning characteristics. By using Response Surface Methodology,
an optimization of the parameters was achieved. The results indicated that an optimum
combination of blending ratio 10:90, moisture content of 14.70 % and a raw material
particle size of 9.0481 mm resulted in the lowest ignition time of 38.001 seconds, highest
burning rate 15.9511 g/min and lowest specific fuel consumption of 153.1153g/l. The
findings of this work reveal that wheat straw – bagasse blended fuel pellets can be
produced at optimal conditions by the use of optimization tools and practically utilized as
a source of biomass energy.
Description
A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Renewable Energy Technology in the School of Engineering and Architecture of Kenyatta University, November 2024