LATVIA UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURE - Latvijas ...

COMBUSTION ABILITY OF ENERGY CROP PELLETSRasma Platače, Aleksandrs AdamovičsFigure 3. Combustion ability in pellets with different component proportions.Figure 4. Ash content for different content of pellets.In addition, the heating capacity of such pellets is600–1000 kJ kg -1 lower, e. g. heating capacity for barkbriquettes with ash content of 140 g kg -1 comprises16.554 kJ kg -1 (according to the standard DIN 51731heating capacity should reach at least 17.500 kJ kg -1 ).Fuel combustion heat is an essential quality indicator,which largely depends on the amount of moisture andashes. With the average pellet moisture comprising67–78 g kg -1 it ranges from 18.400 to 17.700 kJ kg -1(Obenberger and Thek, 2010).Available data suggest that ash contentproduced by the autumn reed canary grass(Phalaris arundinacea L.) biomass is large -55.9 g kg -1 (Fig. 4), therefore it should be appropriateto produce pellets from the reed canary grassbiomass with the wood raw material supplement.Thus one of the main problems during burningprocess in the heating system - the ash content - willbe reduced. Therewith economic production and useof the reed canary grass in the heat production wouldbe increased.During the interpretation of the ash contentindicators in pellets with different componentproportions, we have identified that in part of thereed canary grass biomass the ash content is thelowest - respectively in the ones where indicators areproportional to the component combination 1/3 (RCG+ wood) with both osier (34.3 g kg -1 ) and poplar(41.8 g kg -1 ).54 Research for Rural Development 2012