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Preparation of gasification feedstock from leafy biomass

  • Pollution control technologies and alternate energy options
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Abstract

Dried leaves are a potential source of energy although these are not commonly used beside to satisfy daily energy demands in rural areas. This paper aims at preparing a leafy biomass feedstock in the form of briquettes which can be directly used for combustion or to extract the combustible gas using a gasifier. Teak (Tectona grandis) and rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) leaves are considered for the present study. A binder-assisted briquetting technique with tapioca starch as binder is adopted. Properties of these leafy biomass briquettes such as moisture content, calorific value, compressive strength, and shatter index are determined. From the study, briquettes with biomass-to-binder ratio of 3:5 are found to be stable. Higher mass percentage of binder is considered for preparation of briquettes due to the fact that leafy biomasses do not adhere well on densification with lower binder content. Ultimate analysis test is conducted to analyze the gasification potential of the briquettes. Results show that the leafy biomass prepared from teak and rubber leaves has calorific values of 17.5 and 17.8 MJ/kg, respectively, which are comparable with those of existing biomass feedstock made of sawdust, rice husk, and rice straw.

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Acknowledgments

The earlier version of this paper content was presented in an International Conference on Environment and Energy (ICEE14) on 15–17 December 2014 at Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad 500 085, India.

Ethical responsibility statement

We, the authors of the paper titled “Preparation of gasification feedstock from leafy biomass,” are hereby declaring our ethical responsibility statement as follows:

The manuscript submitting here has not been submitted/ published previously (partly or in full) to any journal and no data for the preparation of this paper have been fabricated or manipulated. The text and theories of the paper are written by the authors themselves, and all the contributions from other researchers in the theory making are properly acknowledged by including in the paper reference. The authors whose names appear on the submission have contributed sufficiently to the scientific work and therefore share collective responsibility and accountability for the results. In addition to these, consent to submit this paper has been received from the responsible authorities of our parent institution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Calicut, Calicut, 673601, Kerala, India

    C. M. Shone & T. J. S. Jothi

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  1. C. M. Shone
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  2. T. J. S. Jothi
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Correspondence to C. M. Shone.

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Responsible editor: Angeles Blanco

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Shone, C.M., Jothi, T.J.S. Preparation of gasification feedstock from leafy biomass. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 9364–9372 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5167-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-5167-2

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