Assessment of Moisture Effect in Simulating Forestry Biomass Supply Chain Strategy: Case Study of New Brunswick, Canada

In order to investigate the effect of variation of the moisture content of forest biomass residues on a supply chain strategy, a simulation was performed using integrated biomass supply analysis and logistics modeling. A simple supply chain strategy was chosen and applied for Miramichi and Plaster Rock, two different regions in New Brunswick, Canada. These regions are selected based on three criteria: annual potential harvest of forest biomass residues, annual production potential of electric and thermal energy and distribution of transportation zones. The moisture content of forest biomass residues was dependant on the weather conditions of the selected regions. The results show that the moisture content of the biomass in Plaster Rock was more stable but higher than the biomass in the Miramichi region. In simulating the supply chain strategy, particular attention is given to harvest, baling, storage and transportation of the biomass. The simulation results show that, during harvest and baling of the biomass, the moisture content affects the dry matter loss and, as a consequence, the customer and ownership costs of the operations. It also affects the energy input and the quantity of carbon dioxide released in the atmosphere. However, dry matter loss and accordingly the cost of the operations are the main parameters affecting the storage and transportation of forest biomass residues

Effect of ultrasound on henna leaves drying and extraction of lawsone: Experimental and modeling study

[EN] The effect of drying temperature and the application of ultrasound on drying kinetics of Lawsonia inermis (henna) leaves and the extraction of lawsone from the dried samples was addressed. Indeed, henna leaves were dried with and without the application of ultrasound (21.7 kHz, 30.8 kW/m3) at 40, 50 and 60 C with a constant air velocity (1 m/s). As expected, both the increase of temperature and the application of ultrasound decreased the drying time and increased the rate of extraction of the lawsone. The values of the effective diffusion coefficients obtained were used to quantify this influence showing the value increases with higher drying temperature and the application of ultrasound. Moreover, the influence of temperature was quantified by the estimation of the activation energy from an Arrhenius-type equation (46.25 kJ/mol in the case of drying without ultrasound application and 44.06 kJ/mol in the case of ultrasonically-assisted drying). Regarding the influence of studied variables on lawsone extraction yield, the higher is the temperature, the lower is the yield, probably linked with lawsone degradation reaction due to thermal treatment. On the contrary, the application of ultrasound improved the extraction yield mainly at the lower drying temperature tested of 40 C.This research was funded by Science and Innovation Ministry of Spain, grant number PID2019-106148RRC42.Bennaceur, S.; Berreghioua, A.; Bennamoun, L.; Mulet Pons, A.; Draoui, B.; Abid, M.; Carcel, JA. (2021). Effect of ultrasound on henna leaves drying and extraction of lawsone: Experimental and modeling study. Energies. 14(5):1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/en14051329S11114

Convective Drying of Mixtures of Sewage Sludge and Sawdust in a Fixed Bed

This work is part of a project aiming at developing a renewable fuel for gasification purposes, through the convective drying of sludge/wood mixtures. The first step consists in characterizing the drying behaviour of sludge/sawdust mixtures, in a convective fixed bed dryer. In particular, the influence of the mixing step (no mixing against 30 s at 40 rpm) and the sawdust/sludge ratio (1/9, 2/8, 3/7 and 4/6 on a dry basis) have been investigated, as well as the drying temperature (50 °C, 80 °C and 110 °C). As showed in a previous work, the addition of dry matter into sludge has an impact on the initial 3D structure of the bed of extrudates to be dried. Moreover, it is well known that the volume shrinkage occurring during sludge drying will affect the drying velocity. In this study, X-ray tomography, a non-invasive imaging technique, is used to assess changes in volume, porosity and exchange surface between the beginning and the end of the drying process. Results first confirm the importance of the mixing step on the drying behaviour: the drying rate of the mixed sludge is slower than the one of original sludge. Nevertheless the addition of sawdust is shown to have a positive impact on the drying process from mass ratio of 2/8, with observed drying rates higher than for the original sludge. During the whole drying process, the volume and exchange surface of the sample increase and the porosity decreases as the mass ratio increases. These results indicate that the air and the sample contact more fully with more sawdust addition, resulting from bed expansion and exchange surface increase. Hence, the heat and mass transfer efficiency between the air and the material increases and consequently the drying rate. Further work will be done in order to assess the impact of the drying temperature and to characterize the behaviour of these samples during pyrolysis using thermo gravimetric analysis

Effect of ultrasound on drying kinetics of El Henna leaves (Lawsonia inermis)

[EN] In this work the influence of some process variable on drying rate of henna leaves was studied. For this reason, henna leaves were dried (1 m/s) with and without ultrasound application at three temperatures, 40, 50 and 60 °C. As can be expected, the higher the temperature the faster the drying process. Ultrasound application increase drying rate at every temperature tested. Drying kinetics were modeled by using different experimental models. Weibull model provided the best fit for henna leaves drying kinetics.The authors acknowledge the financial support of INIA-ERDF throughout the project RTA2015-00060-C04-02Bennaceur, S.; Bennamoun, L.; Mulet Pons, A.; Draoui, B.; Cárcel Carrión, JA. (2018). Effect of ultrasound on drying kinetics of El Henna leaves (Lawsonia inermis). En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 887-894. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7530OCS88789

Contribution à l’étude de faisabilité de séchoirs solaires pour les produits agricoles

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Etude expérimentale et modélisation du séchage de boues générées par l’épuration des eaux usées

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