Table Of ContentDrying of Biomass,
Biosolids, and Coal
For Efficient Energy Supply and
Environmental Benefits
Advances in Drying Science
and Technology
Series Editor
Arun S. Mujumdar
McGill University, Quebec, Canada
Handbook of Industrial Drying, Fourth Edition
Arun S. Mujumdar
Advances in Heat Pump-Assisted Drying Technology
Vasile Minea
Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulation of Spray Dryers
An Engineer’s Guide
Meng Wai Woo
Handbook of Drying of Vegetables and Vegetable Products
Min Zhang, Bhesh Bhandari, and Zhongxiang Fang
Intermittent and Nonstationary Drying Technologies
Principles and Applications
Azharul Karim and Chung-Lim Law
Thermal and Nonthermal Encapsulation Methods
Magdalini Krokida
Industrial Heat Pump-Assisted Wood Drying
Vasile Minea
Intelligent Control in Drying
Alex Martynenko and Andreas Bück
Drying of Biomass, Biosolids, and Coal
For Efficient Energy Supply and Environmental Benefits
Shusheng Pang, Sankar Bhattacharya, Junjie Yan
For more information about this series, please visit: www.crcpress.com
Drying of Biomass,
Biosolids, and Coal
For Efficient Energy Supply and
Environmental Benefits
Edited by
Shusheng Pang, Sankar Bhattacharya,
and Junjie Yan
CRC Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
© 2019 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Pang, Shusheng, author. | Bhattacharya, Sankar (Chemical engineer)
author. | Yan, Junjie (Power system engineer), author.
Title: Drying of biomass, biosolids, and coal: for efficient energy supply
and environmental benefits / Shusheng Pang, Sankar Bhattacharya, Junjie Yan.
Description: First edition. | Boca Raton, FL : CRC Press/Taylor & Francis
Group, 2018. | Series: Advancing in drying technology | Includes
bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018049433| ISBN 9781138549333 (hardback : alk. paper) |
ISBN 9781351000871 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Biomass--Drying. | Coal--Drying. | Biomass conversion.
Classification: LCC TP339 .P354 2018 | DDC 662/.88--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018049433
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at
http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the CRC Press Web site at
http://www.crcpress.com
Contents
Preface......................................................................................................................vii
Editors .......................................................................................................................ix
Contributors ..............................................................................................................xi
Chapter 1 Recent Advances in Biomass Drying for Energy Generation
and Environmental Benefits .................................................................1
Shusheng Pang, Yanjie Wang, and Hua Wang
Chapter 2 Biomass Drying and Sizing for Industrial
Combustion Applications ...................................................................19
Hamid Rezaei, Fahimeh Yazdanpanah, Shahab Sokhansanj,
Lester Marshall, C. Jim Lim Anthony Lau, and Xiaotao Bi
Chapter 3 Advances in Biodrying of Sludge .......................................................51
César Huiliñir Curío, Francisco Stegmaier, and Silvio Montalvo
Chapter 4 Advances in Algae Dewatering Technologies ....................................75
K.Y. Show, Y.G. Yan, and D.J. Lee
Chapter 5 Drying of Algae ..................................................................................97
Y.C. Ho, K.Y. Show, Y.G. Yan, and D.J. Lee
Chapter 6 Coal Drying in Large Scale: Simulation and Economic Analysis ........117
Sankar Bhattacharya
Chapter 7 Advances in Coal Drying .................................................................135
Junjie Yan and Xiaoqu Han
Chapter 8 Energetic and Exergetic Analyses of Coal and Biomass Drying .....165
Junjie Yan and Ming Liu
Index ......................................................................................................................193
v
Preface Preface
Preface
It is well known that human beings are heavily reliant on fossil fuels (crude oil,
natural gas, and coal) to meet the energy demand. The use of fossil fuels has caused
concerns such as climate change and potential energy shortages. Therefore, finding
alternative and sustainable energy resources has been a critical task in the world to
secure the future energy supply and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In the mean-
time, the use of fossil fuel in an efficient and clean way will also help mitigate the
above-mentioned issues. Biomass has been recognized as one of the most promising
sources for future fuels and energy. The biomass, in the form of woodchips, sawdust,
bagasse, grass, and agricultural residues, is generated from trees, agricultural crops,
or purpose-planted coppices which absorb carbon dioxide through photosynthesis
during plant growth. In this way, the whole system, from feedstock growing through
energy processing to energy consumption, is carbon neutral.
Organic solid waste is another alternative source for energy, and effective use
of this resource has double benefits for reducing landfill space and for recovery of
energy. However, the characteristics of organic wastes vary significantly with respect
to energy content, ash content, water content, species of microorganisms, and other
potential contaminant elements. Sewage sludge is a typical organic solid waste
stream from wastewater treatment plants. Use of the sewage sludge for energy faces
challenges of high water content, while bound water behaves quite differently from
free water.
Algae, as another alternative source for energy and fuel, covers many different
organisms which grow in a similar manner as plants, using photosynthesis to convert
solar energy and CO into chemical energy in the form of oils, carbohydrates, and
2
proteins. Benefits of using algae biofuel include high yield per crop area and CO
2
captured is high: up to two orders higher than terrestrial vegetations. Again, the
high water content in fresh algae is one of the challenges in the processing of algae
biomass to biodiesel and energy.
To increase the energy efficiency, improve the energy product quality, and reduce
the emissions in the energy conversion in the utilization of biomass, organic solid
wastes, and algae, drying of these feedstocks to required moisture content is impor-
tant in the development of alternative energy systems. In a boiler, the energy effi-
ciency can be increased by 5 to 15% with the increased combustion temperature and
the reduced flue gas temperature by using the dried biomass instead of wet biomass
and biosolids. In gasification and pyrolysis conversions, the feedstocks need to be
dried to even lower moisture content from 5 to 10% to reduce the water content in
the energy products.
However, there are challenges in the drying of these feedstocks, including low
energy efficiency, negative environmental impacts, the risk of fire in drying, and
high costs. To mitigate these issues, it is critical to understand the feedstock proper-
ties and drying process, to analyze the energy and exergy efficiencies, and to develop
new drying technologies.
vii
viii Preface
Due to the huge availability and low price, low-rank coals still make significant
contribution to the world energy supply at present. However, extensive efforts have
been made to process the low-rank coal more efficiently and cleanly. Drying of these
coals is an important operation in the integrated system to achieve this goal.
This book is a collection of recent advances in the drying of biomass, sewage
sludge, algae, and low-rank coals. It covers both fundamental studies on the dry-
ing process, and the development of new drying technologies. Important issues in
the commercial drying operations are also tackled; these include energy and exergy
efficiencies, environmental impact, and potential safety concerns. Also, the per-
formance of energy production plants in integration with biomass drying has been
assessed to provide information for plant optimization.
We are sure that this book will be useful to anyone who is interested in the utiliza-
tion of biomass, organic solid wastes, algae, and low-rank coals for energy.
Dr. Shusheng Pang
Professor, Department of Chemical and Process Engineering,
University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
Dr. Sankar Bhattacharya
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering,
Monash University, Australia
Dr. Junjie Yan
Professor and Dean, School of Energy and Power Engineering,
Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
Editors
Shusheng Pang
Dr. Pang received his PhD from the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering,
University of Canterbury in 1994. Then he worked at New Zealand Forest Research
Institute for eight years on wood drying and processing of wood products. He was
appointed associate professor at Canterbury University in 2002 and full professor
in 2009. Dr. Pang is also the director of Canterbury University’s Wood Technology
Research Centre. He is a fellow of Engineering New Zealand and a fellow of the
International Academy of Wood Science (IAWS). In addition, he serves as an edito-
rial board member for Energies, Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery, and Maderas.
Ciencia y Tecnología.
Dr. Pang’s research interests and expertise include:
• Drying of wood, biomass, and bio-solid wastes;
• Processing of wood-based products;
• Biomass energy, biofuels and chemicals, and other clean energy
technologies;
• Bio-composites and renewable chemicals/polymers from woody biomass.
In the last 25 years, Dr. Pang, with his team, has developed a number of advanced
technologies and published over 150 papers in international leading journals and five
book chapters in the above fields. Recently, Dr. Pang organized and co-chaired the
6th International Conference on Bio-refinery in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Sankar Bhattacharya
Dr. Sankar Bhattacharya has over 28 years’ engineering and research experience
in coal-fired power generation. Prior to his return to Australia in 2009, he was with
the International Energy Agency (IEA) leading their Cleaner Fossil Fuels program,
where he was responsible for IEA’s work on coal-fired power stations and co-authored
several publications including their flagship publications—World Energy Outlook,
Energy Technology Perspectives, CO Capture and Storage, and several country
2
reviews. He previously worked in India on the design and commissioning services
of coal-fired power stations, in Thailand on biomass carbonization, in Australia with
the Lignite CRC as a principal research engineer, and with Anglo Coal as princi-
pal process engineer. He led the first pilot plant trials in Australia on circulating
fluidized bed (CFB) combustion, and pressurized oxygen-blown gasification using
Australian and North American lignites at facilities in Australia and the USA.
Dr. Bhattacharya is the co-author of two patents, six book chapters, over ten
research reports, and over 100 journal publications. He currently leads a group of
18 researchers on coal- and biomass-based and industry-funded drying, gasification,
oxy-fuel, CFB, and liquid fuels research projects at Monash University.
ix
