Application of biomass moulding fuel to automatic flue-cured tobacco furnaces: Efficiency and cost-effectiveness

Abstract

Biomass moulding fuel is an environmentally friendly and renewable energy source. We studied an independently-developed automatic flue-cured tobacco furnace, employing a biomass fuel source and studied the effect of biomass moulding fuel onbacco flue curing. We found that 1 kg of dried tobacco required 1.2 kg of biomass moulding fuel (heating value = 3550 kcal per kg). The energy input cost was 1.43 RMB** (fuel and electricity) and the labor cost was reduced by 75%, a reduction of 18.6% compared to the cost of burning coal. With respect to the environmental impact, the average emission concentration of smoke in the exhaust gas from the furnace was 16.2 mg/m3, SO2 was 13.6 mg/m3, and NOx was 2.3 mg/m3. Ringelmann blackness was less than 1. Compared to burning coal, all emissions were very low, demonstrating that the biomass moulding fuel furnace saved energy and reduced emissions compared to coal. In addition, the quality of cured tobacco and economic index were significantly improved.