Ultrasonic vibration-assisted (UV-A) pelleting of wheat straw: a constitutive model for pellet density.

Ultrasonic vibration-assisted (UV-A) pelleting can increase cellulosic biomass density and reduce biomass handling and transportation costs in cellulosic biofuel manufacturing. Effects of input variables on pellet density in UV-A pelleting have been studied experimentally. However, there are no reports on modeling of pellet density in UV-A pelleting. Furthermore, in the literature, most reported density models in other pelleting methods of biomass are empirical. This paper presents a constitutive model to predict pellet density in UV-A pelleting. With the predictive model, relations between input variables (ultrasonic power and pelleting pressure) and pellet density are predicted. The predicted relations are compared with those determined experimentally in the literature. Model predictions agree well with reported experimental results.

[1]  Christopher W. Macosko,et al.  Rheology: Principles, Measurements, and Applications , 1994 .

[2]  G. Sitkei.  Mechanics of Agricultural Materials , 1987 .

[3]  M. O. Faborode,et al.  A rheological model for the compaction of fibrous agricultural materials , 1989 .

[4]  Zhijian Pei,et al.  Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Pelleting of Sorghum Stalks: Effects of Pressure and Ultrasonic Power , 2010 .

[5]  R. .. Morey,et al.  Constitutive model for densification of corn stover and switchgrass , 2009 .

[6]  Zhijian Pei,et al.  Ultrasonic Vibration-Assisted Pelleting of Biomass: A Designed Experimental Investigation on Pellet Quality and Sugar Yield , 2010 .

[7]  Shahab Sokhansanj,et al.  ECONOMICS OF PRODUCING FUEL PELLETS FROM BIOMASS , 2006 .

[8]  Y. Haddad.  Viscoelasticity of Engineering Materials , 1994 .

[9]  Douglas W. Fuerstenau,et al.  Mechanisms of agglomerate growth in green pelletization , 1973 .

[10]  K. Peleg.  A Rheological Model of Nonlinear Viscoplastic Solids , 1983 .

[11]  Lishan Zhao,et al.  Bioethanol. , 2006, Current opinion in chemical biology.

[12]  I. C. Sinka,et al.  Analysis of tablet compaction. I. Characterization of mechanical behavior of powder and powder/tooling friction. , 2004, Journal of pharmaceutical sciences.

[13]  L. Tabil,et al.  Biomass Feedstock Pre-Processing – Part 2: Densification , 2011 .

[14]  M.J.A. van den Oever,et al.  Process for production of high density/high performance binderless boards from whole coconut husk: Part 1: Lignin as intrinsic thermosetting binder resin , 2004 .

[15]  Meng Zhang,et al.  Ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of wheat straw: a predictive model for energy consumption using response surface methodology. , 2014, Ultrasonics.

[16]  W. Pietsch.  Size enlargement by agglomeration , 1991 .

[17]  Lope G. Tabil,et al.  Binding and pelleting characteristics of alfalfa , 1996 .

[18]  Donghai Wang,et al.  A physics-based temperature model for ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of cellulosic biomass. , 2014, Ultrasonics.

[19]  Sudhagar Mani,et al.  Evaluation of compaction equations applied to four biomass species , 2004 .

[20]  M. T. Paridah,et al.  Oil Palm Biomass Fibres and Recent Advancement in Oil Palm Biomass Fibres Based Hybrid Biocomposites , 2012 .

[21]  Meng Zhang,et al.  Ultrasonic-Vibration-Assisted Pelleting of Cellulosic Biomass: Effects of Moisture Content , 2010 .

[22]  S. Sokhansanj,et al.  An Overview of Compaction of Biomass Grinds , 2003 .

[23]  Meng Zhang,et al.  Effects of ultrasonic vibration-assisted pelleting of cellulosic biomass on sugar yield for biofuel manufacturing , 2013 .

[24]  N. Mohsenin.  Physical properties of plant and animal materials , 1970 .

[25]  Isao Sekiguchi,et al.  Test Methods for Evaluating the Strength of Granules and Agglomerates , 1994 .