
Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
6-24-2014
Journal or Book Title
Energies
Volume
7
Issue
6
First Page
4019
Last Page
4032
DOI
10.3390/en7064019
Abstract
The bulk density of raw corn stover is a major limitation to its large-scale viability as a biomass feedstock. Raw corn stover has a bulk density of 50 kg/m3, which creates significant transportation costs and limits the optimization of transport logistics. Producing a densified corn stover product during harvest would reduce harvest and transportation costs, resulting in viable pathways for the use of corn stover as a biomass feedstock. This research investigated the effect of different process variables (compression pressure, moisture content, particle size, and material composition) on a densification method that produces briquettes from raw corn stover. A customized bench-scale densification system was designed to evaluate different corn stover inputs. Quality briquette production was possible using non-reduced particle sizes and low compression pressures achievable in a continuous in-field production system. At optimized bench settings, corn stover was densified to a dry bulk density of 190 kg/m3. Corn stover with a moisture content above 25%wb was not suitable for this method of bulk densification, and greater cob content had a positive effect on product quality.
Access
Open
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Copyright Owner
The authors
Copyright Date
2014
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Recommended Citation
Thoreson, Curtis Peder; Webster, Keith E.; Darr, Matthew J.; and Kapler, Emily J., "Investigation of Process Variables in the Densification of Corn Stover Briquettes" (2014). Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications. 599.
https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/599
Comments
This article is from Energies 7 (2014): 4019–4032, doi:10.3390/en7064019. Posted with permission.