Sustainable Solutions for Energy Production from Biomass Materials

Abstract

This study reveals the possibilities of the sustainable usage of pellets produced from waste biomass based on the thermal properties of processed raw materials. For this study, a thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were performed to better understand the thermal properties of the pellets. This study covered two types of wood pellets with different ratios of waste material: a kind of pellet made from a combination of wood and sunflower residues, and two types of pellets made from sunflower husks. The analysis revealed that the wood pellets offered the best thermal stability and high energy values, making them the preferred choice for heating systems. Mixed pellets showed a lower thermal capacity and combustion efficiency, showing possibilities for further optimization. Sunflower-husk pellets demonstrated a high calorific value, but their application was restricted by a significantly higher ash content and worse environmental impact compared with the first two types of pellets. In addition, the outputs from this study revealed that pellets composed of wood reduced their mass the most at temperatures in the range of 310 to 323 °C. In comparison, the mass loss of sunflower husk pellets was 35.6%/°C (at a 5 °C/min temperature gradient) lower than wood pellets and about 42%/°C lower at a 10 °C/min temperature gradient. These findings highlight the importance of pellet production and technology usage to achieve better sustainability and better thermal properties of the pellets.