Classifications

• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L5/00—Solid fuels
  • C10L5/40—Solid fuels essentially based on materials of non-mineral origin
  • C10L5/44—Solid fuels essentially based on materials of non-mineral origin on vegetable substances
• • C—CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY
  • C10—PETROLEUM, GAS OR COKE INDUSTRIES; TECHNICAL GASES CONTAINING CARBON MONOXIDE; FUELS; LUBRICANTS; PEAT
  • C10L—FUELS NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR; NATURAL GAS; SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS OBTAINED BY PROCESSES NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES C10G, C10K; LIQUEFIED PETROLEUM GAS; ADDING MATERIALS TO FUELS OR FIRES TO REDUCE SMOKE OR UNDESIRABLE DEPOSITS OR TO FACILITATE SOOT REMOVAL; FIRELIGHTERS
  • C10L5/00—Solid fuels
  • C10L5/02—Solid fuels such as briquettes consisting mainly of carbonaceous materials of mineral or non-mineral origin
  • C10L5/34—Other details of the shaped fuels, e.g. briquettes
  • C10L5/36—Shape
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E50/00—Technologies for the production of fuel of non-fossil origin
  • Y02E50/10—Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E50/00—Technologies for the production of fuel of non-fossil origin
  • Y02E50/30—Fuel from waste, e.g. synthetic alcohol or diesel

Definitions

• the present invention concerns a method for production of a solid fuel, in the form of fuel balls, based at least on carbohydrate-containing, vegetable residual mass.
• a vegetable residual mass is comprised of vegetable residual substances and/or waste from the food industry, agricultural activities and/or the wood processing industry.
• a residual mass from preparation and/or processing of carbohydrate-containing, vegetable material is used as a raw material in the present fuel balls.
• a raw material may include bagasse from pressing sugar canes, dregs and other waste from alcohol production in breweries and/or distilleries, etc.
• the moisture content of raw, undried bagasse will be in the range of 45-55 percent by weight, whereas the moisture content of undried bagasse oftentimes will be somewhat higher, typically in the range of 60-70 percent by weight.
• these vegetable raw materials constitute poor fuel materials when having such a moisture content.
• the word vegetable is meant to comprise carbohydrate-containing raw materials originating from the entire vegetable kingdom, and from prominent types of wood to prominent plants.
• the present fuel balls are well suited as fuel in ordinary wood-burning stoves and pellet stoves, but also in industrial heating installations adapted to this type of solid fuel.
• such balls advantageously may substitute and/or supplement ordinary wood pellets or similar.
• the invention also concerns use of particular carbohydrate- containing, vegetable residual masses as raw material for production of the present fuel balls.
• Biofuel in the form of pellets have become an increasingly more common fuel means, both for domestic purposes and for industrial purposes.
• Most such fuel pellets are based on pure residual products from the wood industry, for example pure sawdust and/or shavings. This results from today's modern society consuming vast amounts of wood for other purposes than firing.
• Pure peat, or a mixture of peat and such residual wood is also used to a certain extent for production of such fuel products.
• such residual wood goes through a relatively comprehensive, equipment- demanding, energy-demanding and thus expensive process in order to arrive at the final fuel product, for example wood pellets.
• Such other fuel raw materials may originate from trees, plants, shrubby plants, types of grass, fruits, vegetables, root vegetables, nuts, husks/hulls and similar, and they may have an exotic origin.
• these fuel raw materials may comprise tree species, i.e. pure wood, normally not used for production of wood pellets in accordance with said production process, and/or types of residual wood considered inferior for this purpose may be involved.
• Fuel raw materials of interest may also comprise residual products from the wood processing industry and other industrial activities, for example recycled paper and cardboard. Alternate fuel raw materials may also be extracted more or less directly from nature, for example in the form of peat, coal, coal dust, etc .
• the present invention seeks to provide a relatively simple and cost-efficient method for production of fuel balls based on alternate, potentially exotic, fuel raw materials.
• the invention is based on exploitation of substantially residual substances and/or waste from preparation and/or processing of carbohydrate-containing, vegetable raw materials.
• a residual mass is derived from the food industry, agricultural activities and/or the wood processing industry.
• Vast amounts of such residual substances and/or waste exist, and they exist as various types and in various extents depending on, among other things, geographical region and the type of activity from which the residual mass originates. Most such residual substances and/or waste are used to a small or no extent as raw materials for production of various types of solid fuel.
• bagasse As fuel in steam boilers for production of electricity. Bagasse is comprised of the outer, cellulose-containing fibres of sugar cane and hence constitutes a combustible material. As a raw residual mass, however, bagasse typically has a residual moisture content in the range of 45-55 percent by weight and therefore constitutes a poor fuel material in this state. Inasmuch as raw bagasse generally is viewed as a problematic residual waste, open burning of vast amounts of raw bagasse takes place with no other purpose than to dispose of the waste. This, however, causes problematic air pollution. I certain geographical regions, bagasse is also used as a raw material for production of charcoal .
• coffee bean husks as solid fuel in, for example, baking kilns for production of bricks.
• Cylindrical objects are extruded from the metal matrix so as to break off, or to be cut up, into short, cylindrical rods.
• the temperature in the wood pulp increases .
• the temperature increase causes the substance lignin to be liberated from the wood pulp.
• the lignin acts as a binder in the extruded rods upon subsequently being cooled so as to form fuel pellets. Due to this extrusion process, the pellets obtain a shiny and smooth cylinder surface, and they become hard and, as such, are supposed to be relatively stable in shape. As such, they are supposed to better endure the subsequent handling, packing and transport onwards to the sites of use.
• a further wood pellet hardness and moisture-resistance may be obtained by boiling the wood pulp before introducing it into the pellet press. Thereby, the wood fibres in the wood pulp are split and liberate more lignin as a binder in the final wood pellets.
• the latter wood pellets are usually referred to as brown wood pellets (in contrast to ordinary, white wood pellets) .
• wet wood pulp may also be used and extruded in the manner described above.
• such know fuel pellets are also encumbered with a number of technical and practical disadvantages significantly avoidable by using fuel balls produced in accordance with the present method.
• such known fuel pellets oftentimes exist in the form of short, cylindrical rods typically having a diameter of ca. 6-10 mm and a length of ca. 5-30 mm.
• the cylinder-shape of the rods leads to a series of practical disadvantages.
• cylindrical pellet rods usually have uneven, rough and splintered end surfaces.
• Irregular end surfaces constitute structural weaknesses which, when subjected to mechanical loads/strains, easily result in splintering and fragmentation of the pellets and thus weaken the shape stability thereof.
• This form of pellet disintegration produces undesired dust and micro-splinters.
• the lignin binding in such pellets may be poor in part, which further assists the pellet disintegration and the associated formation of dust and micro-splinters.
• the formation of dust and micro-splinters may also produce partially dangerous and/or unfavourable conditions in connection with the very firing process.
• disintegration of pellets in connection with firing may restrain the combustion process by virtue of dust and micro- splinters obstructing, completely or partially, the supply of air to the combustion process.
• Dust and micro-splinters also increase the possibility of having a dust explosion in the combustion furnace/stove and/or associated equipment. For this reason, the pellet industry, among others, warns against allowing fuel pellets to engage with plastics and plastics objects, whereby static electricity may arise and cause a dust explosion.
• a cylindrical pellet shape also restrains the pellet feeding into the combustion furnace/stove. For this reason, feeding chambers for such pellet combustion furnaces/stoves are generally provided with a feed screw or similar feeding device for force- feeding cylindrical rod pellets into the combustion furnace/stove.
• the disadvantage of this practice is that the complexity and price of the combustion furnace/stove increases, which is a direct consequence of the cylindrical pellet shape.
• raw materials capable of constituting a part of the present fuel balls at least comprising carbohydrate-containing, vegetable residual mass from preparation and/or processing of at least one carbohydrate-containing, vegetable raw material.
• the raw materials at least comprising carbohydrate-containing, vegetable residual mass from preparation and/or processing of at least one carbohydrate-containing, vegetable raw material.
• split -up or ground-up wood, rush, grass or similar vegetable matter not comprising a residue from industrial preparation and/or processing may also be used.
• Such a residual mass may also contain lignin, various vegetable oils, potential residual substances in the form of simple sugar types and starch, various proteins and minerals and also ash substances, most of which also constitute combustible materials.
• This adhesive is exploited advantageously in the present invention by virtue of the main raw materials of the fuel " balls, i.e. dregs, bagasse, sugar beet pulp, and/or oil palm pulp, containing such natural adhesives. In their natural state, these main raw materials normally exist as relatively wet residual masses having moisture contents in the range of 40-70 percent by weight.
• the present vegetable raw material mass may originate from a number of carbohydrate-containing plants, trees, rushes, legumes, root vegetables, fruits and nuts.
• Sugar cane from the grass genus Saccharum
• sugar beet (Beta vulgaris)
• oil palm from the family Arecaceae) are already mentioned as examples of such vegetable growths, but they may also comprise various types of cereals (grains), potatoes, rise, maize, beans (including soybeans), groundnuts, rape oilseeds, various types of berries and fruit, banana, coconut, bamboo, cassava (manioc) , durra (from the genus Sorghum) , cotton, flax, jute, hemp, ramie, finger grass/witch grass, tea and tobacco.
• Such vegetable raw materials may be derived from agricultural activities, the food industry and the wood processing industry.
• the present raw material mass may comprise suitable carbohydrate-containing raw materials originating from the entire vegetable kingdom, and from prominent types of wood, via various species of rush and grass, to prominent plants, berries and vegetables.
• suitable carbohydrate-containing raw materials originating from the entire vegetable kingdom, and from prominent types of wood, via various species of rush and grass, to prominent plants, berries and vegetables.
• land-based vegetable raw materials but it is also conceivable to use vegetable raw materials originating from the sea, rivers and/or lakes.
• the vegetable raw material mass may comprise both woody and non-woody raw materials and may comprise everything from typically fibrous materials (e.g. various types of wood, paper, cardboard, bagasse) to typically non-fibrous materials (e.g. dregs from alcohol production).
• typically fibrous materials e.g. various types of wood, paper, cardboard, bagasse
• typically non-fibrous materials e.g. dregs from alcohol production
• a reinforcing material may comprise pure wood, residual wood, paper and cardboard from the wood processing industry.
• such reinforcing material may comprise vegetable residual waste in the form of leaves, stalks, stems, straws, fibres, fibre bundles, shells, pods, cobs and/or hulls, husks, peelings from agricultural and/or industrial activities.
• such residual waste is relatively dry, typically having a moisture content in the range of 8-15 percent by weight, in which state this residual waste is suitable as a fuel.
• Suitable vegetable raw materials from agricultural activities and the wood processing industry are relatively obvious, whereas vegetable raw materials, including residual substances and/or waste, from the food industry may be less obvious. For this reason, examples of suitable vegetable raw materials from the food industry will be provided hereinafter.
• Such vegetable raw materials may comprise, among other things, residual substances from bolting, milling or other processing of cereals (grains) or legumes, including the following categories:
• a by-product is bran, which comprises the outer shell of the grain having smaller fractions of the kernel and some flour attached thereto.
• Another by-product is grain shell flour, which predominantly is composed of the finer shell fractions remaining from the bolting, and some flour.
• This category consists of residual substances from the bolting of the cereal, but prior to the milling thereof, normally comprising the following constituents:
• This category comprises, among other things, whole cobs of maize (corn cobs) milled with or without the outer husk.
• Such residual products from the food industry also comprise residual masses from production of sugar and starch, and also residual masses from breweries and distilleries, including:
• This category predominantly consists of fibrous, protein- containing constituents normally present in the form of pellets or flour, but also in the form of cakes.
• Beet pulp is the product remaining after having extracted the sugar juice from the root of the sugar beet. Such beet pulp may be present both in a wet and dry state.
• bagasse is a waste product consisting of the fibrous mass remaining in the sugar cane after pressing thereof and the extraction of the sugar juice. Normally, bagasse is present in a wet state.
• Such waste products comprise foam waste, filter waste, etc.
• H Pulp from oil palm. These are residual products, for example fibres and fibre bundles of residual mass, from processing of oil palms.
• Raw pulp from the oil palm may be oil-containing and oftentimes is present in a relatively wet state, for example having a moisture content in the range of 40-55 percent by weight.
• This category comprises, among other things, dregs from alcohol production in breweries and/or distilleries.
• a dreg is a gruel-like waste remaining after having converted sugar and/or starch in the raw material into alcohol during the brewing or distillation process.
• Dregs from cereals barley, rye, etc.
• Dregs from berries, fruit and similar are obtained from production of wine.
• Dregs are also obtained from distillation of cereals, maize, rice, potatoes, seeds, etc.
• Such waste is also obtained from distillation of sugar beet molasses.
• This category also comprises extrusion-cooked hops.
• dregs normally are present in a wet state, but the dregs may also be present in a dried state.
• Said residual products from the food industry may also comprise oil cakes or other solid residual substances remaining from extraction of vegetable fatty substances or oils from fat- or oil-containing vegetable growths. As such, it may involve residual products remaining from extraction of, for example, soybean oil from soybeans, ground nut oil from ground nuts, rapeseed oil (or colza oil) from rape seeds, or oil from oil -containing seeds, fruits and cereal germs, including flax seeds, cotton seeds, sesame seeds, mustard seeds, copra, rice bran, etc.
• some of these types of oil cakes and solid residual substances constitute valuable animal foods and may therefore be of less interest as raw materials for the present fuel balls.
• the food industry may also be encumbered with vegetable food raw materials, e.g. various cereal products, which have become spoiled for some reason, for example by mould infestation, hence being largely unsuitable as food for humans and/or animals.
• vegetable raw materials may also be used in the present fuel balls.
• the primary object of the invention is to provide a technology for allowing a more varied and cost-efficient exploitation of alternate raw materials for production of solid fuel based at least on vegetable residual substances and/or waste, preferably from the food industry, agricultural activities and/or the wood processing industry. Particularly bagasse, dregs, pulp from sugar beet and/or pulp from oil palm are of interest as raw materials.
• a further object of the invention is to avoid or substantially reduce the aforementioned disadvantages related to prior art for production of fuel pellets, but also disadvantages associated with the shape of such pellets. How the objects are achieved
• a method for production of fuel balls based on carbohydrate-containing, biological raw material comprises the following steps: - using, as a raw material mass for said fuel balls, at least a carbohydrate-containing, vegetable residual mass from industrial preparation and/or processing of at least one carbohydrate-containing, vegetable raw material;
• One or several of said types of vegetable residual mass may thus be used, as appropriate, in the raw material mass. If required or desirable, the raw material is split-up or ground-up into a desired size and/or shape for the further production of fuel balls from the raw material mass. All of said types of residual mass entering into the raw material mass contain natural adhesives (cf. the above discussion on adhesives) used advantageously by virtue of effectively binding the raw material mass together both in connection with the production of the present fuel balls, but also in connection with the subsequent handling, transport and firing with the balls.
• the present fuel balls do not need to have a completely spherical shape. They may just as well have a somewhat irregular ball-shape, for example an oval ball- shape .
• Fuel balls based on dregs have been measured to have a heat value of ca. 19.5 MJ/kg, whereas fuel balls based on bagasse have been measured to have a heat value of ca. 17.0 MJ/kg.
• known wood pellets typically have a heat value in the range of 14.4-18.8 MJ/kg. This clearly shows that the present fuel raw materials may exhibit corresponding heat values .
• reinforcing vegetable material may thus be used in the raw material mass for the present fuel balls.
• Said reinforcing material forms a reinforcing structure within the raw material mass and hence within the fuel balls.
• This structure may be in the form of a reinforcing lattice or similar which, together with said natural adhesive in the raw material mass, serves to bind together and reinforce the fuel balls.
• the balls assume a continuous, even and strong surface exhibiting a far greater structural integrity than that of cylindrical rod pellets.
• Such a reinforcing structure is useful both in the formation and drying of such fuel balls, but it is also useful in connection with the subsequent handling, transport and firing with the balls.
• the reinforcing effect has proven particularly useful in connection with the final drying of the balls, insofar as the reinforcement contributes to prevent cracking of the balls upon drying and shrinking somewhat .
• Such a natural reinforcing structure may thus be useful for preventing disintegration of the fuel balls throughout their overall life.
• At least one of the following types of vegetable material may be used as a reinforcing vegetable material : - pure wood, for example tree species normally not used for production of wood pellets and similar;
• residual wood for example types of residual wood considered inferior for production of wood pellets and similar
• cellulose-containing residual material from the wood processing industry, for example ground-up cellulose in the form of paper, cardboard and similar, and possibly pure, recycled cellulose products
• wood species growing in vicinity of the production site may be used in this connection.
• Types of residual wood considered inferior for this purpose for example bark and flitch/slab wood, may also be used.
• bagasse and pulp from sugar beet and oil palm oftentimes contain such unprocessed, fibrous residual material. Consequently, such residual material may replace other reinforcing material of the types mentioned above.
• said reinforcing vegetable material for example ground-up paper and/or cardboard.
• the following may be used in the vegetable raw material mass :
• the aforementioned types of vegetable residual mass (dregs, bagasse, pulps from sugar beet and oil palm) have a moisture content typically in the range of 40-75 percent by weight, as mentioned above.
• the residual mass may be taken directly from the place of origin when in such a raw, undried state, and it may also be stored in this state at or in vicinity of the production site for the present fuel balls. Even though such an initially moist residual mass is preferable, the method does not require use of such a moist residual mass.
• the raw material mass is arranged with a production moisture content in the range of 50-75 percent by weight.
• the manner in which the raw material mass is arranged with this production moisture content depends on the desired production moisture content and the initial moisture content of said residual mass. If said residual mass has a lower moisture content than the desired production moisture content, water and/or other moist vegetable material is added until the desired production moisture content is reached. If said residual mass has a higher moisture content than the desired production moisture content, vegetable material having a lower moisture content than the moisture content of the residual mass is added until the desired production moisture content is reached.
• such drier vegetable material may be comprised of the aforementioned residual waste typically having a moisture content in the range of 8-15 percent by weight, possibly also being fibrous and thus reinforcing within the raw material mass of the balls.
• the method also comprises the following steps:
• the peripherally rotating tube may also be pivoted the back and forth about a pivot axis being transverse to the tube, so-called double rotation.
• double rotation implies that the ends of the tube are moved alternately up and down simultaneous with the tube rotating about its longitudinal axis. Thereby, said raw material units are kneaded until they become ball -shaped or approximately ball-shaped.
• said string of raw material mass advantageously may be cut into units having a transverse dimension and length in the range of 5-25 mm, and preferably in the range of 10-15 mm. Yet further, it is of advantage for the transverse dimension and the length of the unit to be approximately equal, which facilitates the kneading of the raw material units in the rotating tube.
• the vegetable raw material mass advantageously may be extruded through an apertured plate having circular apertures.
• Said string of raw material mass, and thereby units thereof, thus assume a circular cross-section, which further facilitates the conversion of the raw material units into ball-shaped units.
• the ball-shaped units of the vegetable raw material mass advantageously are dried in a drying silo, for example a drying silo of the same type used for drying grains (cereals) .
• a drying silo for example a drying silo of the same type used for drying grains (cereals) .
• fuel balls having a diameter of 10-15 mm have proven most favourable for achieving fast and cost-efficient drying thereof.
• natural air may be used in the drying process, but supply of warm air may also be required under less favourable conditions.
• the ball-shaped units of the vegetable raw material mass are dried until having a residual moisture content of maximum 10 percent by weight.
• the invention also comprises use of carbohydrate-containing, vegetable residual mass as raw material for production of fuel balls, wherein the raw material is selected from at least one of the following types of residual mass:
• the present fuel balls provide the favourable effect of being easily fed from a feeding chamber and into a combustion furnace/stove by virtue of being self-rolling, due to their shape, in response to the force of gravity. Contrary to known pellet furnaces/stoves, the combustion furnace/stove therefore does not have to be provided with a feeding device, for example a feed screw, in order to feed the solid fuel into the furnace/stove.
• a furnace/stove for the present fuel balls may therefore be of simpler and cheaper construction than that of a pellet furnace/stove .
• the present fuel balls are also easier to dry, owing to their ball-shape, than rod-shaped pellets.
• the reason for this is that the drying medium, normally consisting of air, flows more easily through a mass consisting of balls than a mass consisting of rod-shaped pellets.

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Citations (11)

• 2007
  • 2007-07-02 NO NO20073335A patent/NO328631B1/no not_active IP Right Cessation
• 2008
  • 2008-06-27 WO PCT/NO2008/000241 patent/WO2009005363A1/en active Application Filing

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