System for Separating Out Rice-Straw Culms Abundant in Solubilized Carbohydrates for Use in Bioethanol Production

Abstract

To utilize rice straw culms, which are abundant in solubilized carbohydrates such as sucrose and starch, for bioethanol production, we developed a culm separator system that uses a flywheel-type cutter and a pneumatic separator. The system consists of a chopping part, a conveyor part, and a separation part that collects culms in a front bag and leaves in a rear bag. At 5.3m/s of the air flow, the system separated straws well, with an over-all separation efficiency of 0.84 and a work efficiency of 44.4kg/h.