摘要
New insight was obtained in the effect of ash composition on the ash melting behavior of biomass products. It was shown that there is a good correlation between the amounts of calcium （Ca）, silicon （Si） and potassium （K） of the ash and the ash melting temperature （Tmelt） of bio-energy products like wood, agro and sludge pellets （n = 164）. Using PCA and linear regression analyses a good prediction of the Tmelt can be obtained by using an easy to use formula： Ln [Tmelt] = 7.24 - 0.33 × Si - 0. 70 × K ＋ 1.28 × K × Ca （variance accounted for is 72%）. The new formula give much better predictions of the ash Tmelt of wood pellets and other solid bio-energy or biofuel products than previous fits. As expected Ca plays an important positive role. K and Si sink the Tmelt. Other metals play a less dominant role, such as iron （Fe）, aluminium （Al） and magnesium （Mg）. The new insight was put into practice by showing that by adding FlourBond, a pressing aid high in Ca, the Tmelt of wood pellet ash can be increased. It is envisaged that an elevated ash Tmelt reduces the risk of slagging of solid biofuels.
