Abstract

SANCHEZ CASTRO, Zamir; GARCIA BERNAL, Hugo Reinel  and  MENDIETA MENJURA, Oscar Andrés. Effect of primary air preheating and moisture sugarcane bagasse during fixed bed combustion. Corpoica cienc. tecnol. agropecu. [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.1, pp.5-16. ISSN 0122-8706.

Furnaces used to making jaggery have energy losses due to incomplete combustion of sugarcane bagasse and sensible heat in the flue gases. During jaggery production process, sugarcane bagasse is used as fuel, with mass fractions of humidity between 30% and 50%, which affect the combustion efficiency of a biomass in a fixed bed. Because the air preheating decreases the drying time, its implementation in many biomass combustion systems increases process efficiency. Therefore, in this investigation we studied the influence of the moisture content and the preheating of the primary air on the combustion of bagasse in a fixed bed furnace, by analyzing the profiles of temperature and concentration of the combustion gas. Results showed that increasing in bagasse moisture reduces the rate of combustion and conversion of carbon to CO₂, diminishing the yield of process. When the primary air is preheated to a temperature of 120 °C, the combustion rate increased, however, only meant an increase in combustion efficiency to a mass fraction of 30% humidity.

Keywords : biomass combustion; combustion yield; temperature profiles; gas concentration profiles.

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