Prediction of Low Heating Value of Sugar Cane Bagasse as a Fuel for Industrial Boilers in the High Relative Humidity Region: Case of Cameroon

Many attempts have been made to estimate calorific value of bagasse using mathematical equations, which were created based on data from proximate, ultimate, physical and chemical analysis. Questions have been raised on the applicability of these equations in different parts of the globe. This study was initiated to tackle these problems and also check the most suited mathematical models for the Law Heating Value of Cameroonian bagasse. Data and bagasse samples were collected at the Cameroonian sugarcane factory. The effects of cane variety, age of harvesting, source, moisture content, and sucrose on the LHV of Cameroon bagasse have been tested. It was shown that humidity does not change within a variety, but changes from the dry season to the rainy season;the sugar in the rainy season is significantly different from that collected in the dry season. Samples of the same variety have identical LHV. LHV in the dry season is significantly different from LHV in the rainy season. According to the fact that this study was done for cane with different ages of harvesting, the maturity of Cameroonian sugarcane does not affect LHV of bagasse. Tree selected models are much superior tool for the prediction of the LHV for bagasse in Cameroon compared to others. The standard deviation of these validated models is around 200 kJ/kg compared to the experimental. Thus, the models determined in foreign countries, are not necessarily applicable in predicting the LHV of bagasse in other countries with the same accuracy as that in their native country. There was linear relationship between humidity, ash and sugar content in the bagasse. It is possible to build models based on data from physical composition of bagasse using regression analysis.

Estimation of Higher Heating Value for MSW Using DSVM and BSOA

In recent decades,the generation of Municipal Solid Waste(MSW)is steadily increasing due to urbanization and technological advancement.The col-lection and disposal of municipal solid waste cause considerable environmental degradation,making MSW management a global priority.Waste-to-energy(WTE)using thermochemical process has been identified as the key solution in this area.After evaluating many automated Higher Heating Value(HHV)predic-tion approaches,an Optimal Deep Learning-based HHV Prediction(ODL-HHVP)model for MSW management has been developed.The objective of the ODL-HHVP model is to forecast the HHV of municipal solid waste,based on its oxy-gen,water,hydrogen,carbon,nitrogen,sulphur and ash constituents.In addition,the ODL-HHVP model contains a Deep Support Vector Machine(DSVM)regres-sion component that can accurately predict the HHV.In addition,the Beetle Swarm Optimization(BSO)method is utilised as a hyperparameter optimizer in conjunction with the DSVM model,resulting in the highest HHV prediction accu-racy.A comprehensive simulation study is conducted to validate the performance of the ODL-HHVP method.The Multiple Linear Regression(MLR),Genetic Pro-gramming(GP),Resilient backpropagation(RP),Levenberg Marquardt(LM)and DSVM approaches have attained an ineffective result with RMSEs of 4.360,2.870,3.590,3.100 and 3.050,respectively.The experimentalfindings demon-strate that the ODL-HHVP technique outperforms existing state-of-art technolo-gies in a variety of respects.

Analysis of ingredient and heating value of municipal solid waste

Great differences between municipal solid wastes (MSW) produced at different places and different times in terms of such parameters as physical ingredient and heating value lead to difficulty in effective handling of MSW. In this paper, ingredient, heating value and their temporal varying trends of typical MSW in Beijing were continuously measured and analyzed. With consideration of the process in pyrolysis and incineration, correlation between physical ingredients and heating values was induced, favorable for evaluation of heating value needed in handling of MSW from simple analysis of physical ingredients of it.

Experiments on Ni/γ-Al_2O_3 catalyst for improving lower heating value of biomass gasification fuel gas via methanation

Ni-based catalysts supported by γ-Al_2O_3 were prepared for improving the lower heating value( LHV) of biomass gasification fuel gas through methanation. Prior to the performance tests, the physico-chemical properties of the catalyst samples were characterized by N_2 isothermal adsorption/desorption, X-ray diffraction( XRD) and a scanning electron microscope( SEM). Afterwards, a series of experiments were carried out to investigate the catalytic performance and the results showthat catalysts with 15% and20% Ni loadings have better methanation catalytic effect than those with 5% and 10% Ni loadings in terms of elevating the LHV of biomass gasification fuel gas. M oreover, controllable influential factors such as the reaction temperature, the H_2/CO ratio and the water content occupy an important position in the methanation of biomass gasification fuel gas. 15 Ni/γ-Al_2O_3 and 20 Ni/γ-Al_2O_3 catalysts have a higher CO conversion and CH_4 selectivity at 350 ℃ and the LHV of biomass gasification fuel gas can be largely increased by 34. 3 % at 350 ℃. Higher H_2/CO ratio and a lower water content are more beneficial for improving the LHV of biomass gasification fuel gas when considering the combination of both CO conversion and CH_4 selectivity. This is due to the fact that a higher H_2/CO ratio and lower water content can increase the extent of the methanation reaction.

Synthesis of Large-scale Multistream Heat Exchanger Networks Based on Stream Pseudo Temperature

Effective temperature level of stream, namely stream pseudo temperature, is determined by its actual temperature and heat transfer temperature difference contribution value. Heat transfer temperature difference con-tribution value of a stream depends on its heat transfer film coefficient, cost per unit heat transfer area, actual tem-perature, and so on. In the determination of the suitable heat transfer temperature difference contribution values of the stream, the total annual cost of multistream heat exchanger network (MSHEN) is regarded as an objective func-tion, and genetic/simulated annealing algorithm (GA/SA) is adopted for optimizing the heat transfer temperature difference contribution values of the stream. The stream pseudo temperatures are subsequently obtained. On the ba-sis of stream pseudo temperature, optimized MSHEN can be attained by the temperature-enthalpy (T-H) diagram method. This approach is characterized with fewer decision variables and higher feasibility of solutions. The calcu-lation efficiency of GA/SA can be remarkably enhanced by this approach and more probability is shown in search-ing the global optimum solution. Hence this approach is presented for solving industrial-sized MSHEN which is difficult to deal by traditional algorithm. Moreover, in the optimization of stream heat transfer temperature differ-ence contribution values, the effects of the stream temperature, the heat transfer film coefficient, and the construc-tion material of heat exchangers are considered, therefore this approach can be used to optimize and design heat exchanger network (HEN) with unequal heat transfer film coefficients and different of construction materials. The performance of the proposed approach has been demonstrated with three examples and the obtained solutions are compared with those available in literatures. The results show that the large-scale MSHEN synthesis problems can be solved to obtain good solutions with the modest computational effort.

Simulation Study on Heat Value Control System of Natural Gas Used for Color TV Tubes Production

In order to know the character of the heat value control system, determine the influence of natural gas quality and flow on the heat value, and learn how to adjust the parameters of control system, the model of the whole system is established, and simulation of the system is adopted in Matlab/Simulink. The simulation result shows that the feedback system with feed-forward block controls the heat value very well, and the simulation result can effectively guide the engineering design of the heat value control system, and the efficiency of engineering is improved.

The Estimation of the Higher Heating Value of Biochar by Data-Driven Modeling

Biomass is a carbon-neutral renewable energy resource.Biochar produced from biomass pyrolysis exhibits preferable characteristics and potential for fossil fuel substitution.For time-and cost-saving,it is vital to establish predictive models to predict biochar properties.However,limited studies focused on the accurate prediction of HHV of biochar by using proximate and ultimate analysis results of various biochar.Therefore,the multi-linear regression(MLR)and the machine learning(ML)models were developed to predict the measured HHV of biochar from the experiment data of this study.In detail,52 types of biochars were produced by pyrolysis from rice straw,pig manure,soybean straw,wood sawdust,sewage sludge,Chlorella Vulgaris,and their mixtures at the temperature ranging from 300 to 800℃.The results showed that the co-pyrolysis of the mixed biomass provided an alternative method to increase the yield of biochar production.The contents of ash,fixed carbon(FC),and C increased as the incremental pyrolysis temperature for most biochars.The Pearson correlation(r)and relative importance analysis between HHV values and the indicators derived from the proximate and ultimate analysis were carried out,and the measured HHV was used to train and test the MLR and the ML models.Besides,ML algorithms,including gradient boosted regression,random forest,and support vector machine,were also employed to develop more widely applicable models for predicting HHV of biochar from an expanded dataset(total 149 data points,including 97 data collected from the published literature).Results showed HHV had strong correlations(|r|>0.9,p<0.05)with ash,FC,and C.The MLR correlations based on either proximate or ultimate analysis showed acceptable prediction performance with test R2>0.90.The ML models showed better performance with test R^(2)around 0.95(random forest)and 0.97–0.98 before and after adding extra data for model construction,respectively.Feature importance analysis of the ML models showed that ash and C were the most important inputs to predict biochar HHV.

An Evaluation of the Calorific Values of the Branches and Stems of 11 Tropical Trees

This work investigated and quantified the calorific values of the main branches and trunks of eleven (11) tropical trees in correlation with their chemical composition in order to assess their suitability for use as credible sources of wood fuel. The determination of the carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulphur (CHNOS) content of the samples was done using an organic elemental analyser, while an oxygen bomb calorimeter was used to experimentally determine their corresponding gross heat values. The experimental gross heat values for the branches examined ranged from 18,703.37 kJ/kg in Lophira lanceolata to 21,350.35 kJ/kg in Afzelia africana while that of the trunks ranged from 19,747.74 kJ/kg in Tectonia grandis to 22,408.68 kJ/kg in Prosopis africana. These values were within and about the expected ranges observed for tropical trees and may be considered adequate for wood fuel. The general trend in both branches and trunks was that the higher the carbon content, the higher the gross heat value of sample. The absence of sulphur in almost all the samples except, Prosopis africana, (0.055%) was indicative of the fact that the negative environmental impact with respect to harmful emissions of oxides of sulphur is practically non-existent with respect to these species. In the light of the aforementioned variables, the main branches of Afzelia africana (21,350.35 kJ/kg), Nauclea diderrichii (21,157.30 kJ/kg) and Tectonia grandis (20,257.13 kJ/kg) could be used as credible sources of firewood and charcoal production. With respect to the trunks, the timbers in order of preference would ideally be Prosopis africana (22,408.68 kJ/kg), Nauclea diderichii (21,436.42 kJ/kg) and Brachstigia eurychoma (20,924.7 kJ/kg).

Supercritical extracts of forest fuels in Great Xing＇an Mountains

Extracts are important components of fuels. Fatty-extracts with high heating value （HV） are hypothe- sized by researchers as positively related to the HV of fuels. The Soxhlet extractor is typically used to extract fatty-extracts but it has shortcomings, including long processing time （8-10 h） and the requirement for large amounts of organic solvent. Supercritical extraction is an alternate and useful technique for extraction of natural products. However, published studies rarely discuss the relationship between extracts and HV. In this study, we assessed the supercritical extracts （SUE） of forest fuels in the Great Xing＇an Mountains. Our results indicated that the optimum conditions for extraction of SuEs were 40-60 mesh, 40-50 MPa, 45℃, 80 min and a CO2 flow rate of 1.5-2.0 dm3/min. The Soxhlet extracts contents and the SuE contents were all related to HV. However, R2 of the coniferous samples （0.8499） and needle samples （0.9722） demonstrated that the correlation between HV and the SuE content was closer. We conclude that supercritical fatty-extracts provide a useful index of the HV of fuels, especially coniferous fuels. SuE data can be used in fire management, for example to estimate the rate of fire spread or fire intensity.

Variations in productivity and wood properties of Amazonian tachi-branco trees planted at diff erent spacings for bioenergy purposes

Marilene Olga dos Santos Silva 1·Marcela Gomes da Silva 1·LTachi-branco(Tachigali vulgaris,L.F.Gomes da Silva&H.C.Lima)is a leguminous tree species native to the Amazon rainforest that has drawn attention for its remarkably fast growth,a required trait for biomass/bioenergy plantations.In evaluations of biomass production and wood properties of T.vulgaris planted in homogeneous plantations at diff erent spacings in the Amazonian state of Pará,Brazil,biomass of 7-year-old trees was quantifi ed for individual trees and the entire population.Wood was also sampled to assess properties relevant to bioenergy applications.The choice for spacing dimension for planting nonclonal T.vulgaris should consider whether the priority is greater productivity per tree,achieved with greater spacings(9.0 m 2 and 12.0 m 2),or productivity per area,achieved with closerina Bufalino 1·Maíra Reis de Assis 2·Delman de Almeida Goncalves 3·Paulo Fernando Trugilho 2·Thiago de Paula Protásio 4 spacings(6.0 m 2 and 7.5 m 2).Genetic variability of the T.vulgaris seed stand and/or high heritability of wood traits overcame the eff ect of diff erent spacing on all morphological,physical,chemical and energetic properties of T.vulgaris wood.This species has moderate basic density when cultivated at spacings larger than 6 m 2 and net heating value above 7.95 MJ/kg,which is suitable for bioenergy purposes.The high variation in wood properties within tree spacing is strongly indicative of great potential for genetic breeding.The fast growth and the suitable moderate wood basic density confi rm the outstanding potential of homogeneous plantations of T.vulgaris for providing wood for bioenergy.

Load-Balance Policy in Two Level-Cluster File System

In this paper, we explored a load-balancing algorithm in a cluster file system contains two levels of metadata-server, primary-level server quickly distributestasks to second-level servers depending on the closest load-balancing information. At the same time, we explored a method which accurately reflect I/O traffic and storage of storage-node： computing the heat-value of file, according to which we realized a more logical storage allocation. According to the experiment result, we conclude that this new algorithm shortens the executing time of tasks and improves the system performance compared with other load algorithm.

Combustion Characteristics of Animal Manures

A huge amount of waste from the cattle livestock and bird poultry are generated using as manure and solid fuel. In this work, the heat value and proximate parameters of livestock and poultry manures are described. The calorific value of manures (n = 22) was ranged from 2580 - 11,200 kcal/kg with mean value (p = 0.05) of 5333 ± 1073 kcal/kg. The effect of cattle age and additives i.e. NaNO3 and Na2WO4 in the heat value of the manures are discussed. The chemical characteristics of the emitted particulate matters (PM) and ash residues are highlighted.

Recovering Wood Waste to Produce Briquettes Enriched with Commercial Kraft Lignin

Aiming to use lignocellulosic biomass as energy source, one of the process that may aggregate values is the densification process, which allows the production of bioenergy using solid fuels, mainly for reducing transportation costs. In this research, solid fuel from co-briquetting of wood residues from sawmill using commercial kraft lignin as binder was investigated. The effects of compression pressure (900, 1200 and 1500 PSI) and briquette formulation (varying wood and kraft lignin proportion) on the quality and characteristics of briquettes were evaluated. The main findings were that briquetting of wood residues with kraft lignin resulted in an improvement of bulk density, strength rupture modulus, low heating value (LHV) and high heating value (HHV). The briquettes using 4% and 6% of kraft lignin, and submitted to 1200 to 1500 PSI, presented higher bulk density and strength resistance, respectively. On the other hand, the heating values showed the highest results with the addition of 2% lignin at 900 PSI, being the legal range for additives in briquettes for many countries such as in European Union.

Potential Energy of Crops

This work consists of estimating the energy achieved from all land and water-based vegetations. This real potential is determined by identifying 10 biomass samples taken from vegetable resources which are favored by their aptitude of adaptation to the conditions of Iran. The net energy values of the 10 biomass samples change in the range of 13.65-18.00 MJ/kg using bomb calorimeter. By means of least squarere regression method all correlations were found. The results of 10 different biomass materials have been used to develop a linear equation correlation.

Combustion Characteristics of Tree Woods

Biomass is a renewable energy source because sun energy is stored in the form of biomass which regrows over a relatively short period as compared to fossil fuel. The biomass on burning released energy with emission of carbon dioxide, volatile organic compounds, particulate matters and ash residue. The combustion characteristics of biomass depends on several factors of plants i.e. bulk density, moisture, organic matter and metal content. In this work, the combustion characteristics i.e. heat value, moisture, volatile matter and ash content as well as emission fluxes of particulate matters (PM10) of trees grown in central India are described. The calorific value (CV) of 53 trees was ranged from 5190 - 8130 kcal/kg with mean value (p = 0.05) of 6380 ± 170 kcal/kg. Bahera tree showed the highest CV, 8130 kcal/kg, and hence, it was chosen for the detailed studies.

Design for Throat Less Downdraft Rice Husk Gasifier

Rice husk is a major by-product of the rice milling industry. Rice husk is generated as a by-product office processing in rice mills. Rice husk is generally used for domestic purposes like combustion, raw material for paper and board, furfural production and silica industries. Rice husk is an important and one of the most commonly available lignocellulosic materials that can be converted to different types of fuels. Heating value of rice husk is 15 MJ/kg which supports its application as energy source. Rice husk is fired in rice husk gasifier. This paper outlines a new design rice husk gasifier explaining the design as well as calculations involved.

Gasification of Bio-waste and Biomass Products through Exposure to HD and LD Supercritical Water

Biomass as a sustainable and renewable energy source is starting to gain momentum, especially as more economical energy extraction methods prevail. SCWBG （supercritical water biomass gasification） is one of the more promising methods to extract energy from biomass in a gaseous form due to its lower temperature and simpler setup. In this work, two biomass and two bio-waste samples are gasified in SCW （supercritical water） under two temperatures （hence water densities）. As temperature increases and water density decreases, combustible gas yields tend to increase due to changes in reaction pathways and reaction rates. An analytical comparison is also made between the four different types of biomass in terms of the combustible gases produced and hence the energy value. As a result of this analysis beet skin produces the most methane and corn silage yields the most hydrogen. The two bio-waste samples （straw and beet skin） are found to have the highest HHV （higher heating values）.

Pre-combustion mercury removal with co-production of hydrogen via coal electrolysis

Pre-combustion mercury removal via coal electrolysis was performed and investigated on a bench-scale coal electrolytic cell(CEC)systemically,and factorial design was used to determine the effect of different operating conditions(coal particle size,operating temperature,operating cell voltage,and flow rate of slurry)on the percentage of mercury removal,percentage of ash removal,and dry heating value change.The results showed that the operating cell voltage,as well as the interaction between operating cell voltage and coal particle size,are significant factors in the percentage of mercury removal.There is no significant factor in the percentage of ash removal and the dry heating value change,but the coal could be purified while keeping the dry heating value almost constant after electrolysis.A co-product of hydrogen could be produced during coal electrolysis with 50%lower energy consumption compared with water electrolysis.Meanwhile,a mechanism for mercury removal in coal was proposed.The facts indicate that coal electrolysis is a promising method for precombustion mercury removal.

Higher heating value prediction of torrefaction char produced from non-woody biomass

The higher heating value of five types of non- woody biomass and their torrefaction char was predicted and compared with the experimental data obtained in this paper. The correlation proposed in this paper and the ones suggested by previous researches were used for prediction. For prediction using proximate analysis data, the mass fraction of fixed carbon and volatile matter had a strong effect on the higher heating value prediction oftorrefaction char of non-woody biomass. The high ash fraction found in torrefied char resulted in a decrease in prediction accuracy. However, the prediction could be improved by taking into account the effect of ash fraction. The correlation developed in this paper gave a better prediction than the ones suggested by previous researches, and had an absolute average error （AAE） of 2.74% and an absolute bias error （ABE） of 0.52%. For prediction using elemental analysis data, the mass fraction of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen had a strong effect on the higher heating value, while no relationship between the higher heating value and mass fractions of nitrogen and sulfur was discovered. The best correlation gave an AAE of 2.28% and an ABE of 1.36%.

The Martin moving grate technology

The thermal treatment of waste using grate-based systems has gained global acceptance as the preferred method for sustainable management of residual waste.This is because the energy content of the waste is utilized and quality products and residues are produced.Modern Waste-to-Energy(WtE)plants are extremely complex.Sound knowledge of“fuel”waste and its effects on the design and operation of WtE plants is crucial for the successful planning and operation of these plants.To respond to new challenges and/or priorities,developing and implementing innovative technologies is necessary.With long-term global partnerships and innovative grate and combustion technologies,Martin guarantees that in future,residual waste will be treated following ecological and economic constraints and in compliance with international legal requirements.