The influence of additional hemicellulose on Japanese cedar based pre-carbonized solid biofuel properties

抄録

The global carbon dioxide emissions issue is the main hindrance of the Paris agreement goals. Biomass has been effectively utilized as a renewable energy in the household heating and the electricity generating sector. However, it is unsuited for use in the heavy industry. Due to the limitation of biomass applied in the steel industry, the pre-carbonized solid biofuel (Kindai Bio-coke) has been developed and studied throughout the years. This research studied the effect of hemicellulose (glucommannan powder from the Konjac tuber) on Japanese cedar base bio-coke apparent density, heating value, and compressive strength at room temperature and 973 K. The bio-coke samples were produced by the vertical laboratory scale compression machine connected with 12 mm mold by loading cell. The mixture of dried glucomannan powder, with 0, 2, 5, 8, 10 and 15 wt. % and Japanese cedar powder are the raw materials in this research. The production conditions were controlled following the trial experiments done by Bio-Coke Research institute. It shows that hemicellulose has blended in with Japanese cedar particles and has increased the bio-coke apparent density significantly. However, the heating value of bio-coke decreased by 3 % with 15 wt. % of hemicellulose. The maximum compressive strength at room temperature results show an open end downward parabola with peak at 5 to 8 wt. %. Bio-coke containing 10 wt. % of hemicellulose has the highest maximum compressive strength at 973 K.