Breakage behavior of biomass pellets: an experimental and numerical study
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Breakage behavior of biomass pellets: an experimental and numerical study Hamid Gilvari1
· Wiebren de Jong2
· Dingena L. Schott1
Received: 30 December 2019 / Revised: 30 July 2020 / Accepted: 19 August 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The presence and generation of fines and dust in the bulk of biomass pellets have inflicted several problems in the supply chain during transportation and storage, and the breakage behavior of pellets has been scarcely studied so far. Fines and dust are the consequences of impact and abrasive forces through the whole supply chain; however, the breakage happens at the particle level. Therefore, to study the fines generation, first, the breakage behavior of individual pellets should be understood, and then, the behavior of the bulk materials in operational conditions can be investigated. This paper aims to investigate the breakage behavior of individual pellets under experimental compression tests and to introduce a calibrated numerical model using discrete element method (DEM) in order to pave the way for further studies on pellet breakage. For that purpose, seven different types of biomass pellets were studied experimentally, and then, a calibrated model was introduced via the Timoshenko–Ehrenfest beam theory using DEM. Results show that the model could reasonably predict the breakage behavior of pellets under uniaxial and diametrical compressions. The findings could help to develop a new design of the equipment for transportation and handling of biomass pellets with the aim to reduce the amount of generating fines and dust. Keywords Biomass pellet · Breakage behavior · Discrete element method · Compression tests · Timoshenko–Ehrenfest beam theory
1 Introduction The fragmentation of biomass pellets and the generation of fines and dust during transport and storage have inflicted several problems in handling steps and operational units [1]. Equipment fouling, increased risk of fire, dust inhalation problems, and environmental issues are the consequences of existing fines and dust inside the bulk materials [2]. Biomass pellets are mostly transported on a large scale (ten thousand Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s40571-020-00352-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Hamid Gilvari [email protected]
1
Section of Transport Engineering and Logistics, Department of Maritime and Transport Technology, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
2
Section of Large Scale Energy Storage (LSE), Department of Process and Energy, Faculty of Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering, Delft University of Technology, Mekelweg 2, 2628 CD Delft, The Netherlands
tons per hour) resulting in high-impact forces during transportation and handling [3]. The potential of fines and dust generation is highly linked to the mechanical strength of materials. The mechanical strength of biomass pellets could be measured in
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