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Waste Management: Longjian Chen, Li Xing, Lujia Han
Waste Management: Longjian Chen, Li Xing, Lujia Han
Waste Management: Longjian Chen, Li Xing, Lujia Han
Waste Management
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/wasman
Center for Biomass Resource Utilization, College of Engineering, China Agricultural University (East Campus), 17 Qing-Hua-Dong-Lu, Hai-Dian District, Beijing 100083, PR China
Service Center for Trading Technology Service, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Mechanization Sciences, Beijing 100083, PR China
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history:
Accepted 14 December 2009
Available online 13 January 2010
a b s t r a c t
Agro-residue is one of the important biomass resources in China and its efcient utilization is crucial for
providing bio-energy, releasing risk of environmental pollution, and enhancing rural incomes. Densication is one of the important utilization routes of agro-residues. The objective of this paper is to explore
the development of agro-residue densied fuel in China based on energetics analysis. The energetical
property and energy potential of main agro-residues in China were rstly analyzed and then the development of agro-residue densied fuel in every region was evaluated based on energetics analysis. The
results show that the main agro-residues in China are good feedstocks as densied fuel and they constitute enormous energy potential for developing densied fuel. However, the situation of every region
should be considered for the development of agro-residue densied fuel. The primary energy embodied
per unit of useful energy indicates that most of the regions in China are suitable for developing agro-residue densied fuel as it is energetically advantageous compared with coal, whereas only about 25% of
regions near coal production locations are not suitable as they are less energetically advantageous.
2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
China is an agricultural country and the yield of agro-residues in
2007 reached about 700 million tones (NBSC, 2008). Due to their
tremendous amount, agro-residues play an important role in biomass resource in China. Currently, these agro-residue resources
have four utilization routes: as industrial material, as fertilizer directly returned to the eld, as livestock feeding, and as fuel. The
relative proportion of agro-residues used as livestock feeding is
also nally returned to the eld. The utilization pathway not only
increases production for animal husbandry, but also maintains soil
organic matter. Compared with other pathways, utilization as fuel
is the most important one with about 50% of total utilization
amount, followed by livestock feeding (about 30%), fertilizer (about
15%), and paper making industry (about 5%) (Han et al., 2003). The
utilization amount of agro-residues only accounted for about 65%
of total yearly output and the remaining agro-residues were discarded as waste (Xiang, 2005). If including the existing fuel utilization, the amount of available agro-residues for developing fuel
industry is over 60% of the total yearly output. This indicates that
developing fuel industry from agro-residues in China has a strong
feedstock support.
Densication is one of the many important technologies converting agro-residues into fuel (Zeng et al., 2007). Densication
technology has many advantages. Firstly, it can improve the characteristics of agro-residues for collection, transportation and storage. Secondly, densication technology increases energy density,
resulting in higher energy efciency during combustion. Some
researchers investigated energy difference of loose and densied
biomass (Wilen et al., 1987). The results showed that energy density of densied biomass was vefold higher than that of loose biomass. Finally, densied fuel has widely used pathways, such as
serving residential, commercial and industrial applications.
For investigating the development feasibility of agro-residue
densied fuel in China, the energetical property and energy potential of main agro-residues in China were rstly analyzed and then
the development of agro-residue densied fuel in every region was
evaluated based on energetics analysis. The result of this study can
be used to optimize area layout for developing agro-residue densied fuel in China.
2. Physicochemical properties of main agro-residues in China
Unlike conventional energy feedstock, agro-residues have complex physicochemical properties that complicate the processing
and combustion of agro-residue densied fuel (Werther et al.,
2000). The main physicochemical properties of interest can be
characterized by proximate and elemental analyses. For proximate
analysis, moisture content (MC), volatile matter (VM), xed carbon
809
NA(NA)
0.87(0.61)
0.32(0.27)
0.27(0.08)
0.57(0.67)
0.16(0.07)
0.18(0)
0.30(NA)
0.28(NA)
3.50(NA)
0.15(NA)
0.72(0.43)
MC moisture content, AC ash content, FC xed carbon, VM volatile matter, CV caloric value, NA not available.
The data of rice shuck sourced from Chen et al. (1999), whereas the data of other agro-residues sourced from Liao et al. (2004).
MC, AC, VM, FC and CV were determined using as-received basis.
N, C, S, H and O were determined using as-received basis, whereas K, Na and Ca were determined using dry basis.
c
Ca (g/kg)
Na (g/kg)
K (g/kg)
NA(NA)
21.97(8.06)
15.66(3.72)
14.38(4.44)
14.30(7.68)
9.99(2.77)
9.67(0.82)
6.85(NA)
12.33(NA)
10.89(NA)
9.81(NA)
9.09(0.27)
31.29(NA)
39.28(2.14)
40.51(2.67)
45.97(1.51)
42.69(2.11)
44.76(2.42)
42.79(0.05)
42.47(NA)
45.16(NA)
46.10(NA)
46.66(NA)
43.35(2.63)
O (wt.%)
H (wt.%)
4.92(NA)
6.13(0.49)
6.53(0.46)
6.89(0.10)
6.16(0.81)
6.90(0.13)
6.74(0.27)
7.18(NA)
6.57(NA)
7.06(NA)
6.66(NA)
6.85(0.39)
0.05(NA)
0.29(0.17)
0.32(0.10)
0.11(0.05)
0.21(0.13)
0.20(0.04)
0.18(0.05)
0.28(NA)
0.29(NA)
0.27(NA)
0.39(NA)
0.26(0.09)
S (wt.%)
C (wt.%)
38.07(NA)
38.52(1.03)
42.11(2.12)
44.53(0.50)
42.69(1.47)
43.16(1.13)
45.90(0.54)
40.28(NA)
41.34(NA)
42.42(NA)
44.54(NA)
46.10(0.49)
0.40(NA)
0.69(0.21)
0.58(0.28)
0.49(0.12)
0.99(0.20)
0.95(0.28)
1.17(0.09)
2.06(NA)
0.81(NA)
0.23(NA)
1.23(NA)
1.09(0.10)
N (wt.%)
CV (MJ/kg)
14.78(NA)
14.66(0.71)
16.56(1.05)
16.98(0.64)
16.64(0.38)
16.96(0.62)
18.62(0.21)
15.75(NA)
15.92(NA)
16.65(NA)
17.88(NA)
17.91(0.47)
15.99(NA)
15.54(1.36)
14.96(1.49)
15.8(1.85)
14.83(2.13)
15.62(0.17)
16.85(0.71)
15.66(NA)
17.30(NA)
17.26(NA)
20.74(NA)
18.57(1.14)
FC (wt.%)
VM (wt.%)
AC (wt.%)
60.38(NA)
61.10(2.51)
63.96(7.29)
70.24(6.43)
62.74(6.15)
68.95(1.74)
61.64(1.90)
66.67(NA)
68.93(NA)
72.99(NA)
62.16(NA)
67.36(3.49)
MC (wt.%)
13.24(NA)
15.25(2.64)
12.45(9.02)
7.55(6.91)
13.12(8.79)
6.08(1.10)
12.15(3.02)
9.12(NA)
6.11(NA)
3.60(NA)
6.88(NA)
6.41(3.08)
Elemental analysisd
Average value (standard deviation)
Proximate analysisc
Average value (standard deviation)
Residueb
Table 1
The proximate and elemental analyses of main agro-residues.a
The MC of agro-residues is important not only for the combustion properties (Obernberger and Thek, 2004), but also for the densication process as water increases the contact area of the
particles and thereby strengthens bonding via van der Waals
forces (Mani et al., 2003; Shaw, 2008). Generally cellulosic raw
materials with MC ranging from 5% to 15% are preferable because
the densied fuel within the range had good combustion and densication properties. High MC (P15%) not only decreases energy
conversion efciency, but also results in steam formation in the
briquette machine, and steam explosion may occur when the pressure is released, which breaks the briquettes (Grover and Mishra,
1996; Stevens and Verhe, 2004). Mani and colleagues (Mani
et al., 2003) found that corn stover with low moisture (510%) produced denser, more stable and more durable densied fuel than
that with high moisture (15%). The raw material with low MC
(65%) is also not suitable for densied fuel. The densication of
this type of cellulosic materials is more difcult and needs more
energy consumption compared with those containing appropriate
MC. Moreover the densied fuel at this MC level tends to absorb
moisture from the air and expand signicantly, and thereby become fragile (Li and Liu, 2000). Table 1 shows that MC of main
agro-residues in China ranged from 6.41% to 10.39% and was within acceptable range.
The VM, FC, and AC are closely related with combustion properties of agro-residues. The chemical energy in fuel is stored in two
forms, VM and FC. Generally fuel with high VM content ignited easily and was highly reactive in combustion application (Werther
et al., 2000), whereas fuel with high FC content had long combustion time (Pichtel, 2005). The VM and FM contents provide the
measure for combustion energy of agro-residues. This has been observed by some previous studies, where the VM and FC contents of
agro-residues had positive correlations with their heating values
(Demirbas, 1997; Huang, 2008; Sheng and Azevedo, 2005). The
AC determined the available energy of agro-residues by inverse
proportion relationship (Huang et al., 2008). From Table 1, it can
be observed that AC of main agro-residues in China ranged from
3.60% to 15.25% and VM was in the range of 60.3872.99%, whereas
AC and VM in bituminous coal were 20% and 28%, respectively.
Therefore, agro-residues had the advantages of low AC value and
high VM value (Liao et al., 2004). Another parameter of proximate
analysis is CV which denes the energy content of fuel. It can be
used to evaluate energy potential, nd usage area, determine its
price, and properly design thermal systems (Akkaya, 2008). The
CV of main agro-residues in China ranged from 14.66 to
18.62 MJ/kg. These values are comparable to CV of lignite coal
(Jiang et al., 2006) and are equal to 0.50.6 standard coal equivalent (Zheng et al., 2007). All the parameters of proximate analysis
indicate that most of main agro-residues in China are ideal
10.39(NA)
8.11(1.51)
8.63(2.03)
6.41(2.81)
9.31(2.05
9.34(1.88)
9.36(0.41)
8.56(NA)
7.66(NA)
6.15(NA)
10.23(NA)
7.66(1.86)
Rice shuck
Rice straw
Wheat straw
Corn cob
Corn straw
Soybean straw
Peanut shuck
Peanut stalk
Sesame stalk
Rape stalk
Cotton shuck
Cotton stalk
NA(NA)
4.54(1.51)
6.53(3.88)
9.81(6.79)
9.23(4.21)
16.16(1.18)
10.91(2.75)
23.30(NA)
19.35(NA)
10.77(NA)
9.73(NA)
10.35(6.31)
810
Table 2
Energy potential of main agro-residues in China in 2007.a
Crop
RCRb
gd (tce/tonne)
Q (107 tce/year)
Rice
Wheat
Corn
Soybeans
Peanut
Sesame
Rape
Cotton
Total
0.6
1.3
2.0
1.5
1.5
2.0
3.0
3.0
18603.4
10929.8
15230.0
1720.1
1302.7
55.7
1057.3
762.3
0.429
0.500
0.529
0.543
0.500
0.500
0.529
0.543
3.23
4.80
10.88
0.95
0.66
0.04
1.13
0.84
22.53
a
RCR ratio of crop to residue, PC the amount of product crop, g coefcient
equal to tonne of standard coal equivalent (tce), Q energy potential.
b
Source: MAO/DOE Project (MOA/DOE, 1998).
C
Source: China Statistical Yearbook (NBSC, 2008).
D
Source: MAO/DOE Project (MOA/DOE, 1998).
feedstocks for densied fuel because they have high VM/FC/CV and
low MC/AC.
n
X
ni PCi RCRi gi
i1
811
evaluate energetical viability of fuel. Recently, Purohit and colleagues (Purohit et al., 2006) proposed a model to calculate the primary energy embodied per unit of useful energy (PPEI) as follows:
PPEI
PEIP PEIT
PEIU
where PEIP, PEIT and PEIU are energy consumption for producing fuel
(MJ/t), energy consumption for transporting fuel from producing to
end-use point (MJ/t), and useful energy embodied in fuel product
(MJ/t), respectively. The PEIT and PEIU are calculated by using the following equations:
PEIT EIt Dt
PEIU CV w
Dtc
1
EItc
CV c wc
EItb Dtb PEIPb PEIPc
CV b wb
6
reason for not setting higher Dtb value is transport energy consumption. The densied fuel is mainly transported by truck and
its transport energy consumption intensity is high to 2.89 MJ/
(tkm) (Hu, 2008). This study does not also adopt lower Dtb value
(<50 km) for ensuring the utilization range of densied fuel. Therefore, we use Dtb = 50 km as a starting point in this study. The PEIPb
includes all the energy consumptions during the collection and
processing of agro-residues and is determined by briquette production capacity and raw material processing condition (Purohit
et al., 2006). In this study, briquette production capacity is set to
500 kg/h due to small-scale production mode in rural areas of China. In this level, the values of PEIPb on ne granulated, coarse granulated and stalky agro-residues under dry condition are set to 659,
1147 and 1345 MJ/t, respectively (Purohit et al., 2006).
Based on the above-mentioned model parameters, the calculated Dtc values by Eq. (6) for main agro-residues in China are listed
in Table 4. As shown in Table 4, the energetical viability of briquetting agro-residues strongly depends on the part and type of agroresidues. Generally speaking, the critical distance based on agroresidue shuck material is about 1050 km, whereas the critical distance based on agro-residue stalky material is about 2400 km. The
difference in the critical distance is also observed for different
types of agro-residues, such as the critical distance varied from
912 km for peanut shuck to 1248 km for rice shuck.
We have investigated Dtc model response to the variation of a
single parameter within the range of 20% variation, keeping the
other parameters constant at the reference value. The minimum
(Dtcmin) and maximum (Dtcmax) critical distances of coal transportation, which are obtained with the Dtc model when changing the
parameter value, have been used to calculate the variability index
(VI) of the studied parameter according to the following equation:
VI 1
Dtcmin
Dtcmax
Rice shuck
Rice straw
Wheat straw
Corn cob
Corn straw
Soybean straw
Peanut shuck
Peanut stalk
Sesame stalk
Rape stalk
Cotton shuck
Cotton stalk
1248
2663
2314
1898
2301
2251
912
2453
2422
2300
966
2111
Table 3
Input parameters used in Eq. (6).
Parameter
Value
Reference
0.74
2.89
19
0.7
0.6
50
281.3
659 (Fine granulated material)
1147 (Coarse granulated material)
1345 (Stalky material)
Hu (2008)
Hu (2008)
Jiang et al. (2006)
Liu (2007)
(Liu (2007)
812
Table 5
Sensitivity analysis of parameters in critical distance model of coal transportation for
main agro-residues in China.a
Agro-residue
Rice shuck
Rice straw
Wheat straw
Corn cob
Corn straw
Soybean
straw
Peanut shuck
Peanut stalk
Sesame stalk
Rape stalk
Cotton shuck
Cotton stalk
EItc
EItb
CVc
CVb
wc
wb
Dtb
PEIPb
0.11
0.06
0.06
0.08
0.06
0.07
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.41
0.37
0.38
0.39
0.38
0.38
0.41
0.37
0.38
0.39
0.38
0.38
0.09
0.04
0.04
0.05
0.04
0.04
0.41
0.37
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.41
0.37
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.35
0.34
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.09
0.04
0.04
0.05
0.04
0.04
0.15
0.06
0.06
0.06
0.15
0.07
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.33
0.44
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.44
0.38
0.44
0.38
0.38
0.38
0.44
0.38
0.10
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.10
0.04
0.44
0.37
0.37
0.38
0.43
0.38
0.44
0.37
0.37
0.38
0.43
0.38
0.38
0.35
0.35
0.35
0.37
0.35
0.10
0.04
0.04
0.04
0.10
0.04
a
PEIPc energy consumption in coal production, EItc transport energy intensity
of coal, EItb transport energy intensity of agro-residue densied fuel, CVc caloric
value of coal, CVb caloric value of agro-residues, wc efciency of utilization of
coal in the boiler, wb efciency of utilization of agro-residue densied fuel in the
boiler, Dtb distance between producing unit and end-use location of agro-residue
densied fuel, PEIPb energy consumption in the production of agro-residue densied fuel.
to 1 means a large impact. Therefore it can be concluded from Table 5 that CVc, CVb, wc and wb have the largest impact on Dtc, followed by PEIPb, EItc, PEIPc, Dtb and EItb.
China have extremely unbalanced coal distribution and representing 55% of total coal production in 2006 was restricted to
two provinces located in north of China (NBSC and NBEC, 2009),
i.e. Neimengu, and Shanxi province. Mapping of the distances from
the two provinces to other provinces of China is shown in Fig. 2.
These distances are divided into three parts according to critical
distances based on agro-residue shuck and stalk materials, i.e. below 1050 km part, between 1050 and 2400 km, above 2400 km. It
is shown that the space distances of 7 provinces from Neimengu or
Shanxi province are below 1050 km. This indicates that agro-residue densied fuel in these regions is less energetically advantageous than coal as these regions are near coal production
locations. Among the remaining 22 provinces, there are 16 provinces whose distances from Neimengu or Shanxi province are between 1050 and 2400 km. This indicates that the densied fuel
from agro-residue shuck material in these regions is more energetically advantageous than coal, whereas the densied fuel from
agro-residue stalk material in these regions is less energetically
advantageous than coal. Most of these regions have not only enormous energy requirement (NBSC and NBEC, 2009), but also considerable energy potential from agro-residues, such as Liaonin,
Jiangsu and Sichuang provinces. The energy potential from agroresidues of all the three provinces amounted to 1 107 tce/year.
Therefore, the development of agro-residue densied fuel in these
regions may consider the combination process of shuck and stalk
materials. The distance of 6 provinces from Neimengu or Shanxi
province is above 2400 km. This distinctly shows the energetically
advantageous of agro-residue densied fuel over coal in the six regions. These regions are located at a marginal area of China and
their transportation system is not capable of supporting long distance transportation of coal. Therefore, developing agro-residue
densied fuel in these regions is preferable based on energetics
point or region situation.
5. Conclusions
Agro-residue is one of the important biomass resources in China. The energetical property and energy potential of main agro-residues in China were rstly analyzed and then the development of
agro-residue densied fuel in every region was evaluated based
on energetics analysis. The results show that main agro-residues
in China are good feedstocks as densied fuel and they constitute
enormous energy potential for developing densied fuel. However,
the situation of every region should be considered for the development of agro-residue densied fuel. The primary energy embodied
Fig. 2. Mapping of the distances from Shanxi and Neimengu province to other provinces of China except Taiwan, Xianggang and Aomen. The distances were estimated by the
distances between two provincial capital cities.
per unit of useful energy indicates that about 25% of regions in China are not suitable for the development of agro-residue densied
fuel as in these regions it is less energetically advantageous than
coal. The development of densied fuel in about 55% of regions
of China should consider the combination process of shuck and
stalk material because the densied fuel from agro-residue shuck
material in these regions is more energetically advantageous than
coal, whereas the densied fuel from agro-residue stalk material in
these regions is less energetically advantageous than coal. The
remaining six marginal provinces are preferable to develop agroresidue densied fuel based on energetics point and region
situation.
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