Environmental and Climate Technologies

doi: 10.2478/v10145-012-0017-7
2012 / 10 _________________________________________________________________________________________________

Research of Woody Biomass Drying Process in Pellet

Production
Jevgenijs Selivanovs1, Dagnija Blumberga2, Jelena Ziemele3, Andra Blumberga4, Aiga Barisa5, 1-5Institute of Energy
Systems and Environment, Riga Technical University

Abstract – This paper presents results of experimental research  a small-scale pyrolysis process based on wood chips and
on wood chips and sawdust drying in a rotary dryer. Empirical miscanthus bundles with flue gas as a drying medium in
models for the assessment of two dependent parameters of the
a direct or indirect rotary dryer.
drying process were created based on the results of experimental
data.
The mathematical description of the relationship between the Dryers operate on the principle of simultaneous heat and
independent variable – reduced sawdust moisture content – and mass transfer where water is removed from the product. A
dependent variable – specific fuel consumption – is represented variety of biomass drying equipment is available on the
by a linear equation. market [5]. The most common biomass dryers applied in bio-
Keywords – drying process, wood chips, flue gas, moisture energy plants are direct rotary dryers, but the use of steam
content, rotary dryer, temperature
drying technology is increasing [4].
Construction parameters and performance of the dryer are
I. INTRODUCTION important factors affecting end-product quality, consumption
of energy resources, and environmental and economic costs.
Development and use of clean and renewable energy Another important aspect to consider is the raw material of
sources is fundamental towards reducing fossil fuel wood pellets. E.g., the use of sawmill residues for wood pellet
dependence and negative impact on the environment. production can be seen both as an environmental solution and
Wood pellets are an example of a clean renewable energy as an extra economic benefit. The latter can be determined
source and are considered as one of the fossil fuel substitutes based on the production costs of wood pellets and energy
[1]. Mixed biomass pellets have proven to be a more consumption under different framework conditions [1].
sustainable source of energy in international markets and with The quality and properties of wood pellets depend on
the appropriate support, these fuels have much potential in the drying technology that is chosen for particular application.
future. The use of biomass pellets creates new market The most common biomass dryers use the principle of
opportunities in the agricultural sector, reduces dependence on convection. Advantages and disadvantages of different drying
fossil fuels and cuts greenhouse gas emissions associated with technologies are evaluated based on such parameters as the
their use [2]. drying medium, temperature and residence time. Selection of
Techno-economical analysis is always the starting point of a parameters depends on requirements of end-user equipment
wood pellet production unit. Additional suggestions related to (boiler, oven or other) [6]. Hanning et al. [7] have calculated a
optimal plant localization and to the best use of the woody 3–4 years payback time on the initial investment for two types
pellets as substitute of fossil fuels for heating, cooling and of drying technologies of 40 MW power plants: utilization of
power generation purposes present alternatives with a positive flue gases and application of superheated steam.
impact of the whole action on the quality of the environment Several authors discuss the effect of drying technology on
and on the recovery of soil fertility [3]. pellet quality. For example, Ståhl et al. [6] evaluated the
The moisture content of raw biomass is usually 30-60%. impact of two parameters – the moisture content and the
The material needs to be dried to circa 10-15% moisture emissions of volatile hydrocarbons – on the quality properties
content since dry biomass provides considerable benefits for of wood pellets. Authors concluded that the level of volatile
combustion, such as improved operational parameters of the hydrocarbon emissions after drying depends on the residence
boiler and increased energy efficiency as well as reduced flue time of sawdust in the dryer: drying technologies with longer
gas emissions, compared to fuels with high moisture. residence time resulted in larger emissions of terpenes.
However, drying is an energy-intensive process. Furthermore drying techniques can also affect the
From another point of view, drying is a major and environment. Low emissions of volatile hydrocarbons would
challenging step in the pre-treatment of biomass for improve the energy content of the sawdust, and by decreasing
production of second generation synfuels for transport. air pollution improve the work environment and the
Fagernäs et al. [4] define a concept for biomass pre-treatment environment in the surroundings of the dryers [6].
in two different cases:
 a large-scale wood-based gasification synfuel production II. MODELING OF DRYING PROCESS
with a pneumatic conveying steam dryer;
Tasks of modelling of drying processes are several: to find
optimal parameters of drying process, to keep high quality of

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product and to reach minimum consumption of energy Knowing the amount of dried moisture, the amount of dry
resources. material after the dryer and moisture content of wood chips,
Specific fuel consumption in this case is selected as energy the amount of wet wood chips before the dryer can be
efficiency indicator (Eq. 1) which depends on fuel calculated using (5).
consumption and the product produced.
W
M1  (100  W 2 ) (5)
b
B
(1) W1  W 2
M 2 prod
Consumption of drying agent is calculated following:
where
b – specific fuel consumption, kg/tprod; 1000W
L (6)
M2prod – amount of dried material for the production of d 2  d1
pellets, kg/h;
B – fuel consumption, kg/h. where
L – consumption of drying agent, kg/h;
Fuel consumption or the necessary amount of dried material d1 – moisture content of drying agent before the dryer, g/kg
for the operation of the furnace required for the drying process dry gas;
is calculated as follows: d2 – moisture content of drying agent after the dryer, g/kg
dry gas
Qd
B (2) The consumption of the drying agent is usually attributed to
LHV  f
1 kg of moisture excreted in drying process, according to (7).
where L 1000
LHV– lower heating value of fuel, MWh/t; l  (7)
Qd – heat capacity required for drying, MW; W d 2  d1
ηf – furnace efficiency coefficient.
where
The given values for the calculation of the drying process l – specific consumption of drying agent, kg dry gas/kg
are usually the amount of material, its moisture content at the water.
inlet and outlet, temperatures and inlet parameters of the
drying agent. Other group of parameters is following: the Heat consumption is determined using the heat balance of
values of dried moisture content, weight change of the the dryer. Heat consumption is attributed to 1 kg of water.
material during the drying process, drying agent consumption Dryer heat consumption q consists of heat qk, which is
and heat consumption. These values can be obtained from the supplied from the furnace, because there are no additional
material and heat balance of drying process. The average heaters in the dryer (Eq.8).
drying agent parameter values are used for the calculation of
the dryer. q  qf (8)
First the amount of dried material is calculated using (3).
where
M 2  M 2 prod  B (3) q – dryer heat consumption, kJ/kg water;
qf – heat supplied from the furnace, kJ/kg water.
where
M2 – total quantity of dried material after the dryer, kg/h. Heat supplied from the furnace is calculated as follows [1]:

Further dried moisture is determined using following q f  l(H1  H 0 ) (9)

equation:
where
W  W2 W  W2 H1 – enthalpy of drying agent before the dryer, kJ/kg dry
W  M2 1  M1 1 (4)
100  W1 100  W2 gas;
H0 – enthalpy of drying agent before the furnace inflow,
where kJ/kg dry gas.
W – dried moisture, kg water;
W1 – average moisture content of wood chips before the Dryer heat consumption and heat that will be supplied from
dryer, %; the furnace can be calculated using the equation:
W2 – average moisture content of wood chips after the
dryer, %; q  q f  l (H 2  H 0 )  ql (10)
M1 – total amount of wet wood chips before the dryer, kg/h.
where

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H2 – enthalpy of drying agent in the outflow of the dryer,  If Δ<0, additional heat does not cover all heat loss from
kJ/kg drygas; dryer (or there is no additional heat input) and the
ql – heat loss from the dryer surface, kJ/kg water. enthalpy of drying process decreases, H2<H1.

Heat consumption for heating the material and the amount By multiplying the moisture exerted in the dryer with the
of heat input with material moisture are not significant and heat consumption of the dryer we obtain heat capacity
compensate each other. necessary for the drying process.
Heat loss from the dryer surface is calculated using (11).
Qd  W  q (16)
Q
ql  S (11)
W where
Qd – heat capacity necessary for the drying process, MW.
where
QS – heat loss capacity from dryer surface, W or kJ/h. III. DATA PROCESSING AND RESULT ASSESSMENT MODEL
An experiment was carried out in industrial conditions with
Dryer efficiency (the useful heat) is calculated following:
a rotary dryer of sawdust and a wood chips furnace for
ql generation of flue gases used as drying agent.
d  1 (12) The model of data processing and result assessment
q
includes experimentally measured data and an evaluation
where module that allows identifying potential solutions for
ηd – dryer efficiency coefficient. operational improvements in the dryer. The algorithm of the
model is presented in Figure 1.
Enthalpy of drying agent after the dryer cannot be Experimental data included measurements of the following
determined with the help of H-d diagram, therefore (13) is parameters: outdoor temperature, inlet and outlet temperatures
used to calculate it. of gases, moisture content of raw material (wood chips and
sawdust) and the product (wood pellets) at the inlet and outlet,
H 2  l (q f  q l )  H 0 (13) capacity of dryer, and fuel consumption.
Calculations were carried out by applying equations
Enthalpy of drying agent after the dryer for each separate describing the drying process presented in the chapter above.
measurement is determined using the following equation: Statistical processing of data was performed to find analytical
and graphical correlations between the variables. The
H 2 n  H 1 n d (14) relationship between independent and dependent variables was
characterized by a regression model.
where
H 2n – enthalpy of drying agent after the dryer for an Experimental Assumptions
individual measurement, kJ/kg dry gas; data
H 1 n – enthalpy of drying agent before the dryer for an
Calculations
individual measurement, kJ/kg dry gas.

Knowing the drying agent parameters, internal heat balance

Improvements
of the dryer can be calculated: Results

  l(H 2  H1 ) (15)
Analysis of the
where results
 – internal heat balance of the dryer.
Conclusions
Internal heat balance of the dryer determines the
relationship between additional heat input and heat loss. There Fig. 1. The model of data processing and result evaluation
are three possible scenarios for a real dryer:
 If Δ = 0, additional heat input in the dryer covers all heat Two types of models were used for data processing: a single
loss. Drying takes place at a constant drying agent factor linear model and a multifactor linear model.
enthalpy, that is, H1 = H2 = const Mathematical methods of statistics (correlation and regression
 If Δ>0, additional heat not only covers all heat loss from analysis) were extensively used to acquire these correlations.
dryer, but also increases the enthalpy of drying agent. Statistical data processing was performed in a specific order
That is H2>H1 characterized below [8, 9]:

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 Determination of the regression equation for the process: inlet and outlet temperatures, quality and efficiency
phenomena at issue. For this purpose, the most of combustion process and other factors.
commonly used is the method of least squares; Energy efficiency analysis of the drying process indicates
 Statistical analysis of the resulting regression coefficient changes in specific energy consumption. This energy
to assess its significance in the equation. This part of efficiency indicator allows using a dependent variable – heat
analysis is carried out with help of regression analysis, required to evaporate one percent of moisture from sawdust.
and; The difference between initial and final moisture content of
 Identification of the independent and dependent variables sawdust is selected as the independent variable in this case.
of casual interaction (stochastic connections) closeness Data in Figure 3 show acceptable correlation between
(correlation). specific heat energy consumption per each percent of reduced
sawdust moisture and the range of reduced sawdust moisture
On the basis of empirical models, an evaluation of obtained content in percents (R2= 0.44). The results indicate that
data was done and relation between parameters was found. moisture content of pellets can be reduced at a higher level
Results of the experiment presented necessity to improve with minimal specific heat consumption. The mathematical
process parameters of the drying technology. Therefore a description of interconnection between the independent
repeated industrial experiment was carried out. variable – reduced sawdust moisture content – and dependent
variable – specific heat consumption per unit of reduced
IV. RESULTS moisture in raw material – is presented by the equation:
In this case regression equations corresponding to empirical
correlation extraction and verification methodology were used. q hc  2 .503  0 . 038 dW sdust (17)
Based on the results, conclusions about the performance of
equipment and necessary improvements to optimize designed where
performance were drawn. A few ideas are presented further. dWsdust – reduced sawdust moisture content, %;
The quality of pellets is affected by various parameters of qhc – heat energy consumption per each percent of reduced
the drying process. Results of the research present a linear pellet moisture content, kJ/%.
dependence of pellet moisture content from flue gas saturation
with water vapour (see Figure 2).
1,45
Specific heat consumption,

12
1,35
10
8 1,25
Pellet moisture,%

kJ/%

6 1,15
4
2 1,05 y = -0,0384x + 2,503

0 R² = 0,4401
0,95
0,65 0,75 0,85 0,95 30 32 34 36 38 40
Relative moisture of gas after dryer
Reduced sawdust moisture content,%
Fig. 2. Effect of flue gas saturation with water vapour on moisture content of Fig. 3. Specific heat energy consumption depending on reduced sawdust
pellets moisture content

Figure 2 shows good correlation between data presenting V. DISCUSSIONS

moisture content of pellets and relative moisture of gas after
the dryer (R2=0.7). Relation between both parameters Results of the experimental research allow proposing a
indicates that lower level of flue gas moisture results in lower number of substantial improvements in the drying processes
moisture content of pellets. Interconnection between the and technologies related to improved energy efficiency by
independent variable (gas saturation) and dependent variable using waste products for pellet production and dryer material
(moisture content of pellets) is mathematically described by in combustion process. It allows obtaining less moist end-
equation: product due to reduced relative moisture content of flue gases.
Energy efficiency analysis of the drying process, presented
W pel  11 .47 2  1.873 (17) in Figure 3, allows proposing for operational changes in
process parameters to reach higher reduction of moisture in
where raw material at inlet and outlet of the dryer with minimal
Wpel – pellet moisture content, %; specific heat consumption.
 – relative moisture of gas after dryer. The third proposal for improvements is related to reduction
of moisture content in flue gases. This can be realized by
Energy efficiency of the drying process depends from the condensing the vapour contained in flue gases after the dryer
moisture content of raw material and parameters of the drying before the stack. The resulting heat energy can be used in the

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drying process. An additional advantage is the increased Dagnija Blumberga, Dr.hab.sc.ing., Professor,
Riga Technical University, Institute of Energy
quality of pellets due to partial return of dry flue gases to the Systems and Environment. Prof. Dagnija
dryer. Blumberga acquired diploma in Thermal
Engineering in 1970. Her two steps doctoral
VI. CONCLUSIONS degree ‘Condensing Unit’ was defended in
Lithuanian Energy Institute (1988) and Doctor
1. Research on the woody biomass drying process has Habilitatus thesis ‘Analysis of Energy Efficiency
from Environmental, Economical and
allowed finding dependence of qualitative parameters Management Aspects’ was prepared in Royal
and energy efficiency indicators of the drying process Institute of Technology in Stockholm (1995) and
from independent variables – parameters of processes. defended in Riga Technical University (1996).
2. Relation between two important drying process The main research area is renewable energy
resources. She has participated in many local and international projects related
parameters shows that lower moisture content of pellets to energy and environment. She is author of more than 200 publications and
can be reached at minimal level of flue gas moisture. A 14 books.
mathematical description of interconnection between the E-mail: dagnija.blumberga@rtu.lv
independent variable – gas saturation – and dependent Jelena Ziemele, M.sc.ing., Riga Technical
variable – pellet moisture content – presents a linear University, Riga International School of
equation. Economics and Business Administration. Jeļena
has Master’s degree in Thermal Technique and
3. Dependence of energy efficiency on reduced moisture Master’s degree in Business Administration.
content of sawdust proves that higher level of moisture She started Master studies in Environmental
reduction in raw material can be reached at minimal Science in Institute of Energy Systems and
specific heat consumption. The mathematical Environment in 2011.
She has worked in Academy of Science Institute
description of interconnection between the independent of Microbiology as Scientific Assistant, JSC
variable – reduced sawdust moisture content – and ‘Ligija Teks’ as Manager of boiler and turbine
dependent variable – specific fuel consumption – house, and in JSC ‘Latvijas Gāze’ as the Main
Engineer.
presents a linear equation. The main research area is energy efficient technologies and environmentally
friendly solutions.
REFERENCES Phone: +371 29120969
E-mail: ziemele-l@inbox.lv
1. Uasuf A., Becker G. Wood pellets production costs and energy
consumption under different framework conditions in Northeast Andra Blumberga, Dr.sc.ing., professor, has
Argentina / Biomass and Bioenergy Vol. 35, Issue 3, March 2011, Pages been part of academic staff of Institute of
1357-1366 Energy Systems and Environment, Faculty of
2. Karkania V., Fanara E., Zabaniotou A. Review of sustainable Power and Electrical Engineering, Riga
biomass pellets production – A study for agricultural residues pellets’ Technical University since 2001. Her main
market in Greece Review Article / Renewable and Sustainable Energy research area is end-users energy efficiency. She
Reviews, Volume 16, Issue 3, April 2012, Pages 1426-1436 started her professional career as Energy Auditor
3. Di Giacomo G., Taglieri L. Renewable energy benefits with conversion in Sloka pulp and paper factory in 1991-1993. It
of woody residues to pellets Original Research Article / Energy, Vol. 34, was followed by a six-year employment in ABB
Issue 5, May 2009, Pages 724-731 Latvia as Manager of Ventilation and
4. Fagernäs L., Brammer J., Wilén C. et.al Drying of biomass for Refrigeration Dept. From 1999-2008 Prof.
second generation synfuel production /Biomass and Bioenergy Vol.34, Blumberga has been Director of energy and
Issue 9, September 2010, Pages 1267-1277 environmental consulting company Ekodoma
5. Couper J.R., Penney W.R., Fair J.R.et. al. Dryers and Cooling Ltd., where she is still acting as a consultant. She has participated in different
Towers/Chemical Process Equipment (Third Edition) 2012, Pages 223-275 local and international projects related to energy and environment, and is
6. Ståhl M., Granström K., Berghel J. et.al. Industrial processes for author of many publications and books. She acquired Engineer and M.Sc.
biomass drying and their effects on the quality properties of wood pellets/ Diploma in Faculty of Civil Engineering, Riga Technical University and PhD
Biomass and Bioenergy Vol. 27, Issue 6, December 2004, Pages 621-628 degree in Faculty of Power and Electrical Engineering, Riga Technical
7. Li H., Chen Q., Zhang X. et.al. Evaluation of a biomass drying process University (2001).
using waste heat from process industries: A case study / Applied E-mail: andra.blumberga@rtu.lv
Thermal Engineering Vol.35, March 2012, Pages 71-80
8. Revina I. Ekonometrija - Rīga: Latvijas Universitāte, 2002. - 270 lpp. Aiga Barisa, M.sc., Riga Technical University,
9. Veidenbergs I., Blumberga A. Ēku energopatēriņa regresijas modelis // Institute of Energy Systems and Environment.
Aiga acquired Bachelor’s degree in
Proceedings of International Scientific Conference ‘Power and Electrical Environmental Science in 2010 and Master’s
Engineering’,October 11-13, 2001 – Riga: RTU, 2001. Pages. 125-130 degree in 2012. Both bachelor and master theses
were dedicated to promotion of renewable
Jevgenijs Selivanovs, M.sc.ing., Riga energy sources in Latvian district heating
Technical University, Institute of Energy systems. She has working experience as a
Systems and Environment. Jevgenijs has Scientific Assistant in Riga Technical University
Master’s degree in Environmental Science. He and as a Project Assistant in engineer consulting
is working in company ‘Ludzas Bio-Energija’ company. Currently she is a PhD student at
as a Manager of biomass boiler house and in Institute of Energy Systems and Environment.
pellet production company ‘Ekobriketes’ as a The main research area is renewable energy
Managing Director. The main research area of sources. Aiga Barisa is co-author of nine scientific papers.
Jevgenijs is energy saving solutions. Phone: +371 20059433
Address: Kronvalda Blvd. 1, LV-1010, Riga, E-mail: aiga.barisa@rtu.lv
Latvia
E-mail: lbe@latnet.lv

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