Renewable Energy: J. Gaibor-Ch Avez, S. P Erez-Pacheco, B. Vel Azquez-Martí, Z. Ni No-Ruiz, V. Domínguez-Narv Aez
Renewable Energy: J. Gaibor-Ch Avez, S. P Erez-Pacheco, B. Vel Azquez-Martí, Z. Ni No-Ruiz, V. Domínguez-Narv Aez
Renewable Energy: J. Gaibor-Ch Avez, S. P Erez-Pacheco, B. Vel Azquez-Martí, Z. Ni No-Ruiz, V. Domínguez-Narv Aez
Renewable Energy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/renene
a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t
Article history: The use of biomass raw material from agricultural areas is a challenge for Ecuatorian government.
Received 26 February 2015 However there is lack information about surveying systems and processing in its height and weather
Received in revised form conditions. The objective of this work was to develop methods to quantify straw residues, easily
31 August 2015
applicable in corn areas of Guaranda (Ecuador), and model the drying process at different air conditions.
Accepted 3 September 2015
Available online xxx
Two dendrometric equations were obtained for predicting dry available biomass by stem and cultivated
area respectively, from corn mean height and radius of the stem. High coefficients of determination were
obtained (0.94 and 0.97 respectively). Straw chips with initial moisture content ranging from 70 to 80%
Keywords:
Biomass
with an average moisture content of 76.7% wet basis were dried until they reached constant moisture
Biomass surveying content. Traditional models used to describe the drying process of agricultural products were employed
Drying kinetics to fit the observed data of the drying process of straw corn chips. Among the tested models, the Midili,
Effective diffusivity Page, and sigmoid model were those that best fit the observed data representing the drying process. The
effective diffusion (Def) was determined by means of an analytical solution of Fick's second law. Effective
moisture diffusivity values obtained at natural outdoor drying conditions were 2.443E-11 and 2.035E-
10 m2/s, for the first and second falling periods, respectively.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction commercialize food products, and the other hand, market these
residues for energy, raw materials or processed byproducts. This
Corn is one of the most important cultivated and consumed will contribute to achieving the millennium goals such as poverty
cereals in Ecuador and in the world due to its potential productivity, eradication, the upkeep of the environment or promote partnership
chemical composition and nutritional value. Corn ears, still fresh, for development. This source of biomass has not been used so far,
are often used in Ecuador as raw materials for some traditional because it presents various technical difficulties, lack of sufficient
recipes, such as porridge, pamonha and cakes, besides being information about the amount and processing of these wastes [1,2].
consumed in cooked or baked form. Recently the Ecuadorian gov- A dendrometric characterization and natural different drying
ernment has launched a reform of the country's productive matrix, models for the maize cane residues in the province of Bolivar
which aims to exploit efficiently all available resources to achieve (Ecuador) is developed in this paper. Dendrometric studies have
the better life levels in the current social context involved in the been successfully used to quantify available biomass in herbaceous
globalized economy of the world. A lot of residual biomass for en- plants [3]. These studies are necessary to relate this biomass with
ergy use can be used from the management of the Ecuadorian Lidar data [4,5] or vegetation index from multiespectral images
agriculture, especially in pruning operations, renewing plantations [6,7]. They open a new tool to plant management. These studies
or crop residues. The management of this waste biomass could will allow carry out measures for inventory and assessment of this
bring additional income to farmers, who, on the one hand, can resource to define the requirements and planning its use by
farming communities in the Andean region [8,9]. The drying
models of Table 2 were analyzed. They allow knowing drying ki-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: þ34 655438581. netics, and minimum moisture content achievable in determined
zquez-Martí).
E-mail address: borvemar@dmta.upv.es (B. Vela
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2015.09.009
0960-1481/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
746 vez et al. / Renewable Energy 86 (2016) 745e750
J. Gaibor-Cha
Table 1 and July. Afterwards, corn stems are a residue, which have not been
Statistical results obtained for the dry biomass predicting models (N ¼ 894). used up to now, but could be used as energy biomass or raw ma-
Equation R2 MAE RMS terial for byproducts. The corn variety most cultivated in Guaranda
is INIAP-111 (Guagual improved). Samples were collected in three
Bdry area ¼ 2.78446 þ 0.00718$L þ 2.5488$RM 0.9706 0.083 0.105
Bdry stem ¼ 0.3132 þ 0.000808$L þ 0.286$RM 0.9707 0.092 0.118 Andean locations: a) San Simo n, which is located at 7.8 km from
Guaranda, at 2673 AMSL height; b) Julio Moreno, which is at 6.6 km
Bdry stem is the dry biomass in stem in kg; Bdry area is the biomass available kg/m2, L is
length of stem in cm; RM mean radius of stem in cm. from Guaranda, with 2900 AMSL height; and c) Llaca n at 8 km from
Guaranda, at 2550 AMSL height. These locations were chosen
Table 2
Models tested to determine drying kinetics.
0 76.74 1.00000
1 76.60 0.99781
2 73.87 0.95471
3 65.12 0.81638
4 58.87 0.71762
5 56.33 0.67752
6 52.33 0.61421
7 47.77 0.54220
8 39.74 0.41539
9 31.39 0.28342
10 22.26 0.13917
11 19.40 0.09401
12 16.61 0.04985
13 14.06 0.00955
14 13.56 0.00169
15 13.45 0.00000
conditions. A model of special interest is the Fick's model, which is because they are representative of many places in the Andes re-
based on the proportionality between the speed drying and the gions where a lot of small plots exist; corn is usually cultivated with
moisture gradient between the material and environment [10]. The not mechanized methods, and better incomes are searched.
coefficient of proportionality is the effective diffusivity, which was
calculated. 2.2. Dendrometric analysis
2. Materials and methods Five plots were selected from each location. Each plot was
divided in 6 stands where 1 m2 was clear cut. Plant rows in the
2.1. Study area stands were separated between 80 and 100 cm. In the row plants
were separated between 40 and 60 cm. This frame represents
The study was conducted in the province Bolivar (Ecuador) 8.89 stems/m2 average considering two stems by plant. Every corn
(Fig. 1); Bolivar is a province in the center of Ecuador in western straw stem was measured in this area, obtaining weight, length,
Andes side. Its capital is the city of Guaranda. It is characterized by diameter at base and upper points. Sample was formed by more
deep valleys in the high Andes, serving a vast hinterland of agri- than 900 stems. The volume of each stem was calculated by Eq. (1)
cultural settlements. Its climate is subtropical, with a long (May- where Rmax is the base radius of cane. Rmin is the minimum radius of
eOctober) dry season. In this area corn is harvested between May cane, and L in the cane length.
vez et al. / Renewable Energy 86 (2016) 745e750
J. Gaibor-Cha 747
diffusion is everywhere radial, then concentration is a function of water, fertilizers or other inputs; yield too [21,22].
radius r and time t only, and the diffusion equation becomes [14]:
dC 1 v vC
¼ $ r$Def (5) 3.2. Determination and modeling of drying curves
dt r vr vr
The analytical solutions of Fick's second law Eq. (5) for an The variation of moisture content was studied for different chip
infinite cylinder can be given as Eq. (6) with the assumption of length, drying surface and location. The results didn't point to any
constant diffusion coefficients, and uniform distribution of tem- of these factors as significant in the curve (Fig. 2). All of them
perature and initial moisture [15]. showed a similar trend. This was checked by paired sample test,
" # which is based on t-student distribution. Fig. 3 shows the variation
ut ue X∞
4 l2n $Def $t of average moisture content (u) versus time. As it can be seen, the
MR ¼ ¼ exp (6) mean initial moisture content was about 76% and reached constant
uo ue n¼1 l2n r2
value at 15 days.
Small oscillations are as a consequence of different relative
where:
humidity in the air on different days. The minimum moisture
MR ¼ moisture ratio, dimensionless; ln ¼ characteristic root of
content was about 10%. This value allows combusting this material
first kind and zero order of Bessel function (l1 ¼ 2.4048);
in boilers or being processed for pellet.
Def ¼ effective diffusion coefficient (m2/s); t ¼ drying time (s);
Table 2 shows that the average data fit with different drying
r ¼ cylinder radius (m).
models. They will possible to determine the ratio of moisture in
The analytical solution of this equation is presented in the form
every moment from drying out. Page, Midili and Sigmoid models
of an infinite series, and therefore, finite terms numbers (n) in
are shown with the best fit.
truncation are able to determinate the results with satisfactory
precision. For long drying periods Eq. (6) can be further simplified
to only the first term of the series (n ¼ 1). Eq. (6) is written in a
logarithmic form as follows: 3.3. Effective diffusion coefficient
4 l2n $Def $t Fig. 4 shows the variations of the ln(MR) versus drying time
ln MR ¼ ln (7) (days) with natural outdoor drying conditions. These drying curves
l2n r2
show that drying of corn straw occurred in two falling-rate period.
The effective moisture diffusivity was calculated from a slope of In other words, drying force, controlled by the liquid diffusion,
a straight line at the different falling rate drying steps, by plotting follows a first and second falling-rate drying process. They can be fit
data in terms of ln(MR) versus drying time, which gives a straight to drying straight lines as the first and second falling-rate periods
line with a slope of (k), in which: [23].
The procedure for estimating the effective diffusivity Def was
k$r 2 based on derived from the slope determined by the Eqs. (7) and (8).
Def ¼ (8)
l21 These values are shown in Table 3. MR was obtained from Eq. (4)
from values depicted in Fig. 3.
The effective diffusivities obtained by Eq. (8) with natural out-
door drying conditions were 2.443E-11 and 2.035E-10 m2/s. for the
2.5. Biomass characterization first and second falling periods, respectively. These values of
effective moisture diffusivity differ with 9e11 m2/s obtained for
To characterize the material as energy biomass UNE-CEN/TS food materials [24].
14780: 2008 EX [16] was followed. Elemental components (C, H,
N) were obtained using a elemental analyzer LECO Truspec CHN
according to UNE-CEN/TS 15104: 2008 EX [17]. For the determi-
nation of S ASTM E775-87 (2008)e1 [18] was followed. HHV
(MJ kg1) was obtained using a LECO AC-500 calorimeter by UNE
164001: 2005 EX [19] and UNE 164001:2005 EX ERRATUM: 2008
[20].
Fig. 4. From Eq. (7) Ln(MR) versus time (days) for cylindrical chip corn drying of high moisture.
Table 3 ratio could be used to predict the CO2 captured from photosyn-
Effective diffusivity and correlation coefficient at natural outdoor drying conditions. thesis by multiply of biomass. Moles of C are calculated by dividing
FFP and SFP are first and second falling periods, respectively (models Fig. 4).
carbon mass by its atomic mass (12 u). C moles are equivalent to
FFP (cm2/s) R2 SFP (cm2/s) R2 moles of CO2 [3,21,22].
2.443E-11 0.9685 2.035E-10 0.924
4. Conclusions
3.4. Biomass characterization Methods have been developed to predict residual biomass
contained in an area of maize crop from average length and mean
The average and standard deviation of high heat value (HHV) radius of the stems. The good fit of the obtained models allows be
were 14.87 and 1.51 MJ/kg respectively. Average carbon content applied in surveys process.
was 41.31%, hydrogen content 5.75%; Nitrogen content 0.89%, Based on the obtained values, the Page, Midili and Sigmoid
sulphur 0.083% on wet basis. Average ash content was 2.43%. I can models were adequate in describing outdoor drying phenomena of
be noted that ash content is lower than 3%, which is lower than the corn straw chips in Guaranda conditions. These models allow the
limit fixed by UNE-EN 14961 [25]. Restrictions of 1% N maximum moisture content to be predicted from the number of drying days.
and S maximum according to this norm are also complied. Carbon The minimum moisture content reachable is 10%. This moisture
750 vez et al. / Renewable Energy 86 (2016) 745e750
J. Gaibor-Cha
content allows using the material as biomass in a domestic boiler. and volume of shrub vegetation using LiDAR and spectral data in a Mediter-
ranean environment, Biomass Bioenergy 46 (2012a) 710e721.
The effective diffusivities obtained by Eq. (8) with natural out-
[7] J. Estornell, L.A. Ruiz, B. Vel azquez-Martí, T. Hermosilla, Assessment of factors
door drying conditions were 2.443E-11 and 2.035E-10 m2/s. for the affecting shrub volume estimations using airborne discrete-return LiDAR data
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points as sources for linear programming of delivery networks, Trans. ASABE
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41.31%, hydrogen content 5.75%; Nitrogen content 1.09%, sulphur [9] B. Velazquez-Martí, E. Fernandez-Gonzalez, Mathematical algorithms to locate
0.123% on wet basis. Average ash content was 2.43%. These values factories to transform biomass in bioenergy focused on logistic network
construction, Renew. Energy 35 (9) (2010) 2136e2142.
are into limits established by the norm UNE-EN 14961 (part 4). [10] E.A. Veraverbeke, P. Verboven, N. Scheerlinck, M.L. Hoang, B.M. Nicola,
Determination of the diffusion coefficient of tissue, cuticle, cutin and wax of
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