Evaluation of Agricultural Residues as Organic Green Energy Source Based on Seabuckthorn, Blackberry, and Straw Blends

Abstract

The use of biomass mixtures as a feedstock in the production of pellets requires optimization of the percentages of the components, since interactions occur during combustion between the components forming the blend (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose), affecting characteristics of pellets such as calorific value, ash content, fine fraction content, bulk density, and mechanical durability. Our study focuses on the assessment of the quality of pellets produced from biomass blends generated from pruning seabuckthorn and blackberry mixed with wheat straw. The results of literature data analysis and laboratory research show that wheat straw pellets exhibited the lowest calorific value (15.2 ± 0.2 MJ/Kg) and the highest ash content (5.7 ± 0.18%) while seabuckthorn and blackberry biomass pellets possessed significantly higher calorific value with low ash content. According to the maximization of the mixtures taken in the study, it was proved that the addition of up to 25% wheat straw remaining seabuckthorn biomass provides all the qualitative indicators specified by ENPlus 3 standards. The straw content can be increased up to 35% if 10–20% of blackberry biomass is added to the mixture. The production of pellets from biomass mixtures with an optimized composition, meeting the requirements of EN3Plus standards, will benefit the environment and the agricultural economy by replacing polluting fuels and making optimal use of straw and fruit tree pruning residues.