The influence of heterogeneous secondary reactions on char oxidation reactivity, which can take place during slow pyrolysis processes in a woody biomass particle, is analyzed in this study. To this end, the oxidative behavior of primary char produced in a thermobalance with initial wood masses of a few milligrams is compared to the behavior of char produced under conditions enhancing secondary reactions, i.e., large particle and bed sizes in fixed-bed reactors. The influence of the maximum conversion temperature, heating rate, and catalytic effect of inorganics is also studied to compare the effect of each parameter. Results show that a significant reduction in reactivity takes place when char is produced under conditions enhancing these secondary reactions during pyrolysis. The effect is of similar order as the effect as a result of thermal annealing at 900 °C or the catalytic effect of alkali and alkaline earth metals. Therefore, the presence of heterogeneous secondary reactions during pyrolysis should be taken into account in studies addressing biomass char reactivity. Furthermore, it is shown that the reduction of reactivity as a result of secondary reactions is related to neither the loss of oxygen-containing functional groups nor the potential blocking of pores, specially micropores, resulting from the formation of this secondary char. The explanation may, therefore, lie on the deactivation or blocking of active sites by the secondary char.

Wood pellet combustion for heating is increasing in importance in Europe. However, the most commonly used heating appliances such as wood pellet stoves are responsible for emissions which could negatively affect human health. The emissions quality of pellet stoves is influenced by pellet properties and combustion phase characteristics. The goal of this study is to investigate the influence of pellet length on the performance of pellets stoves under real life operation conditions. Three softwood pellet samples were produced, differing only in length. Combustion tests with two different types of pellet stoves were performed in steady and non-steady combustion phases. Gaseous and particulate emissions as well as fuel mass flow were measured. Results show a reduced fuel mass flow (up to 36%) into the combustion chamber for long pellets compared to short pellets. The results of the combustion tests show a considerable influence of pellet length on the performance of both pellet stoves. For example, carbon monoxide emissions and particulate emissions of one stove in nominal load operation increased for long pellets compared to short pellets from 185 mg/m³ to 882 mg/m³, and from 27 mg/m³ to 37 mg/m³ respectively. Results also show a considerable influence of the combustion phase on the emissions level.

The energetic utilization of alternative fuels (short rotation coppice, miscanthus), agricultural by-products (straw, corn cobs) or biomass residues (nut shells, coffee grounds) becomes of increasing interest. Due to variations in fuel properties – and the ash content in particular – biomass fuels considerably influence the conditions in the combustion zone and especially in the fuel bed. Usually, state-of-the-art combustion appliances are optimized for a particular fuel quality and typically approved only for utilization of standardized wood pellets or wood chips. Research activities within the GrateAdvance project focus on fuel flexible grate technologies being capable of adapting conditions in the combustion zone by a systematic and targeted adjustment of grate parameters in order to minimize emissions and slagging problems, thus setting the basis for a new generation of biomass technologies. Moreover, a novel control concept will ensure optimal combustion conditions for any biomass fuel, and specifically adjust to relevant fuel properties.

Computational time in optimization models scales with the number of time steps. To save time, solver time resolution can be reduced and input data can be down-sampled into representative periods such as one or a few representative days per month. However, such data reduction can come at the expense of solution accuracy. In this work, the impact of reduction of input data is systematically isolated considering an optimization which solves an energy system using representative days. A new data reduction method aggregates annual hourly demand data into representative days which preserve demand peaks in the original profiles. The proposed data reduction approach is tested on a real energy system and real annual hourly demand data where the system is optimized to minimize total annual costs. Compared to the full-resolution optimization of the energy system, the total annual energy cost error is found to be equal or less than 0.22% when peaks in customer demand are preserved. Errors are significantly larger for reduction methods that do not preserve peak demand. Solar photovoltaic data reduction effects are also analyzed. This paper demonstrates a need for data reduction methods which consider demand peaks explicitly.

Due to the Austrian legal framework provided by the landfill ordinance from 1996 which has been fully implemented by January 1st 2009, waste with an organic content higher than 5% TOC (total organic carbon) must not be dumped without prior treatment in order to avoid greenhouse gas emissions from landfills. Besides thermal treatment also mechanical-biological treatment (MBT) has been enabled by the regulator as an eligible treatment approach, whereby waste to be dumped must comply with the threshold of 6,600 kJ/kg DM (dry mass) stipulated for the upper caloric value. This is a tough challenge due to the high energy content of plastic, paper, cardboard and wood components which are still contained in the low caloric output fraction of the MBT of municipal and commercial waste as those materials have a much higher upper caloric value. From the resource conservation point of view the utilization of these waste components for energetic purposes is desirable too.
The implementation of the legal framework as one measure battling climate change as well as constantly rising energy prices have caused a change from pure waste management with the intention to reduce the organic content in waste, to the point where high caloric components have become a substitute for fossil fuels in certain sectors of industries (cement industry, pulp & paper industry, steel works, etc). Using waste derived or so-called refuse derived fuel (RDF) demands high purity in order to secure environmental standards as well as product quality and therefore process related requirements have to be met. This can be achieved by 1) qualified selection of the waste streams into the treatment plants and 2) by processing technologies allowing the separation of wanted/unwanted waste components within the plant concept. In cooperation with a regional waste management company, responsible for the treatment and disposal of 82,000 t/a of municipal and commercial waste and operator of a MBT plant as well as a landfill, further processing of a specific output waste stream from the MBT plant was analysed in order to allow an optimized routing of the output streams including the energetic utilization of high caloric components and landfilling of low caloric and inert components. Experiments using the innovative treatment technology of sensor based sorting were conducted with a waste stream characterized by 59 % high caloric components (polymers, paper and cardboard, wood), 8 % other organic components, 27 % inert waste, 3 % metals and 3 % other waste (textiles, fine fraction < 20 mm, hazardous waste). The particle size of that particular waste stream is 20-80 mm. The sorting machine was a NIR (near infrared) multiplex sensor based sorting system with a wavelength of 1,400-1,900 nm in pilot scale. Results showed that by varying the parameters air pressure (bar), scanning speed (Hz), blow out time (ms) and the evaluation of spectra, about 76 % of polymers, 86 % of wood and 96 % of paper and cardboard of the input fractions could be separated from the inorganic waste stream. The remaining components were inert waste (53%), metals (3 %), other waste (textiles, contaminated waste, fine fraction < 20 mm) (3 %), but also dark polymers (12 %), undefined organics (e.g. fruits, vegetables) (9%) and still 20 % of polymers, wood, paper and cardboards. Due to the high portion of organic components and dark polymers in the stream, the threshold of 6,600 kJ/kg DM defined for waste to be landfilled could not be met. Further experiments with a more sensitive sorting system, a spectral imaging technology (wavelength up to 2,500 nm), are planned, supposing that the rejection rate of dark polymers could be increased. Theoretical considerations have shown that in that case the threshold could be met.

Batch-wise operated wood stoves for room heating purposes are popular and widespread in Europe. Beside economic and ecological reasons they are also very important for reaching the European CO2 emission targets. However, since they contribute significantly to harmful gaseous as well as particulate emissions, they have to be optimized towards clear emission reduction in real life operation. Catalysts integrated in wood stoves can significantly contribute to reach this target. The results of this study showed an emission reduction potential of
integrated ceramic and metallic honeycomb catalysts of around 30 % to 99 %. Thereby the highest reduction potential was investigated for CO emissions (reduction rate 75 % to 99 %), followed by reductions of VOC emissions (reduction rate 40 % to 60 %) and reductions of PM emissions of around 30 % to 40 %. Long term tests and safety test series lead to the conclusion that integrated catalysts have to be cleaned regularly in order to prevent blocking and to guarantee optimal reduction performance.

The increasing demand for wood pellets on the market, which is caused by their excellent combustion properties, inspires the production as well as the utilization of alternative biomass pellets as fuel. However, the emission of volatile organic compounds gives pellet materials a distinct odor or off-odor, which is directly perceived by the end user. Thus, there is an urgent need for knowledge about the emitted volatile organic compounds and their potential formation pathways as well as their contributions to odor properties of the pellets. In this study, pellets made of biomass energy crops (i.e., straw or miscanthus), byproducts from the food industry (i.e., rapeseed, grapevine, or DDGS (dried distillers grains with solubles from beer production)), or eucalyptus, as well as torrefied pinewood and torrefied sprucewood were investigated with respect to the emitted volatile compounds and their possible impact on the pellet odor. Headspace solid-phase microextraction in combination with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry was used to enrich, separate, and identify the compounds. Techniques used in sensory science were applied to obtain information about the odor properties of the samples. A total of 59 volatile compounds (acids, aldehydes and ketones, alcohols, terpenes, heterocyclic compounds, and phenolic compounds) were identified with different compound ratios in the investigated materials. The use of multivariate statistical data analysis provided deep insight into product–compound interrelation. For pellets produced from bioenergy crops, as well as from byproducts from the food industry, the sensory properties of the pellets reflected the odor properties of the raw material. With respect to the volatiles from torrefied pellets, those volatiles that are formed during the torrefaction procedure dominate the odor of the torrefied pellets covering the genuine odor of the utilized wood. The results of this work serve as a substantiated basis for future production of pellets from alternative raw materials.

Solid oxide fuel cells represent a promising technology to increase the electrical efficiency of biomass-based combined-heat-power systems in comparison to state-of-the-art gas engines, additionally providing high temperature heat. To identify favorable fuel gas compositions for an efficient coupling with gasifiers at low degradation risk is of major importance to ensure stability, reliability, and durability of the systems used, thus increasing attractiveness of electricity production from biomass. Therefore, this study presents a comprehensive analysis on the influence of main gas components from biomass gasification on the performance and efficiency of a cell relevant for real application. An industrial-size electrolyte supported single cell with nickel/gadolinium-doped ceria anode was selected showing high potential for gasifier-solid oxide fuel cell systems. Beneficial gas component ratios enhancing the power output and electric efficiency are proposed based on the experimental study performed. Furthermore, the degradation stability of a SOFC fueled with a synthetic product gas representing steam gasification of woody biomass was investigated. After 500 h of operation under load at a steam-to-carbon ratio of 2.25 in the fuel gas, no performance or anode degradation could be detected.

High-temperature corrosion in biomass fired boilers is still an insufficiently explored phenomenon which causes unscheduled plant shutdowns and hence, economical problems. To investigate the high-temperature corrosion and deposit formation behaviour of superheater tube bundles, online corrosion probe as well as deposit probe measurements have been carried out in a specially designed fixed bed/drop tube reactor in order to simulate a superheater boiler tube under well-controlled conditions. The investigated boiler steel 13CrMo4-5 is commonly used as steel for superheater tube bundles in biomass fired boilers. Forest wood chips and quality sorted waste wood (A1-A2 according to German standards) as relevant fuels have been selected to investigate the influence on the deposit formation and corrosion behaviour. The following influencing parameter variations have been performed during the test campaigns: flue gas temperature between 650 and 880°C, steel temperature between 450 and 550°C and flue gas velocity between 2 and 8 m/s. One focus of the work presented is the detailed investigation of the structure and the chemical composition of the deposits formed as well as of the corrosion products. A further goal of the work presented was the development of an empirical model which can be used within CFD simulations of flow and heat transfer to calculate and evaluate the local corrosion potential of biomass fired plants already at the planning stage. The corrosion probe measurements show a clear dependency on the parameters investigated and the empirical function developed reproduces the measured corrosion behaviour sufficiently accurate. Since the additional calculation time within the CFD simulation is negligible the model represents a helpful tool for plant designers to estimate whether high-temperature corrosion is of relevance for a certain plant or not, when using fuels with similar compositions and the steel 13CrMo4-5. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.