The Impact of Rain Exposure During Loading of Wood Pellets for Ocean Shipment: An Experimental Study

Abstract

HighlightsA cut-off curve was delineated that specifies the rainfall conditions at which loading of wood pellets must be stopped.The relationship between the amount of water sprayed and the pellet durability and fines content was quantified.Very light rainfall events (less than 0.5 mm h-1) had little impact on the durability of wood pellets.Abstract. On the west coast of Canada, port terminals are frequently exposed to seasonal rainfall events, which can impact the loading operations at the terminals. Wood pellets, one of the bulk materials frequently handled in Canadian ports, are known to disintegrate when exposed to water. However, the extent to which the exposed pellets degrade, in terms of their durability and fines content, is not quantified in the literature. This exploratory research quantifies the impact of liquid water on wood pellets and delineates a cut-off curve specifying the rainfall conditions at which the loading of wood pellets needs to be halted. For example, loading may continue for at least 30 min at rainfall intensities of less than 0.5 mm h-1 before the durability of the wood pellets drops from 99.5% to 96.5%. The results also showed that the durability and fines content of wetted pellets have a strong correlation with the amount of water that the wood pellets are exposed to. Keywords: Durability, Fines, Loading, Moisture content, Rain, Wood pellets.