Biomass energy in India

INTRODUCTION

TO

ENERGY FROM BIOMASS PROCESSING

FOR INDIA

BIOMASS CONVERSION METHODS

BRIQUETTING

COMBUSTION OF SOLID BIOMASS

BIOMETHANATION [Biogas]

2

Many different biomass feedstocks can be used to

produce solid, liquid and gas fuels. They include

crops specifically grown for bioenergy, and various

agricultural residues, wood residues and waste

streams. Their costs and availability vary widely.

Collection and transportation costs are often

critical.

Biomass Feedstocks

• Agricultural crops

• Bioenergy crops

• Agricultural residues

• Wood residues

• Waste streams

3

Agricultural crops:

• Sugarcane, sugarbeet, corn, and sweet sorghum

(agricultural crops presently grown commercially for both

carbohydrate production and animal feeds.)

• Sugarcane, Corn and sweet sorghum are efficient at trapping

solar energy because they are all "C4" plants. They use special

biochemical pathways to recycle and trap carbon dioxide that is

lost through photorespiration.

• Sugarbeets are efficient because they store their carbohydrate

in the ground. Sugarcane was the basis for the World's first

renewable biofuel program in Brazil. Corn is the basis for the

present renewable ethanol fuel industry in the United States.

Conventional use of biomass as

low cost fuel for the poor

Before 1990s, nearly 75% of the rural Indians depended

on bio-fuels (firewood, agricultural residues, and cow

dung-cake) for 80% of their energy needs.

Similarly 25 – 30% of the urban poor, the slum dwellers

depended heavily on bio-fuels.

Why was biomass used? People’s purchasing power

was low, and commercial fuels like kerosene and LPG were

not available adequately/ not affordable.

4

Objectives of Bio-energy Program: To make bio-energy a sustainable energy source & elevate its present status from the

‘poor man’s oil’ into a modern energy source, • Use advanced techniques to produce biomass renewably and • Convert it efficiently into electricity,

gaseous, liquid and processed solid fuels.

5

6

INPUTS & TASKS FOR BIOMASS

UTILIZATION

7

Biomass-Production-Biomass-residue-Conversion to biofuel

Plant biomass requires input of land, suitable soil and

climate, moisture, sunlight and intelligent human labour.

After applications for food, feed, fibre, frame-material,

feedstock for chemicals and organic feedback to soil _

biomass is usable for fuel.

Biomass can be converted to quality fuel after

preparatory operations like drying to reduce

moisture content, briquetting to obtain bigger

partical size or chopping to obtain smaller.

Biochemical & Thermochemical Processing of solid,

liquid and gas biomass is a technology that enables

energy recovery from biomass.

8

9

10

EFFICIENTLY CONVERT BIOMASS ENERGY

TO A CONVENIENT END USE FORM

11

RURAL BIOMASS COMBUSTION

RURAL DOMESTIC: COOKING

HEAT & STEAM: SMALL SCALE Processes

ELECTRICITY: Boiler-Steam turbine-

Generator

COGENERATION / COMBINED CYCLE

FOR PRODUCING PROCESS HEAT &

ELECTRICITY

12

BIOMASS COMBUSTION-USES

13

COMBUSTION PROCESS

14

15

In India, briquettes are mostly made from

groundnut shell, cotton stalk, saw dust,

coffee husk, bagasse, mustard stalk and

press mud. While the Southern region of

India produces briquettes mostly from

groundnut shell and saw dust, Western and

Northern regions produce bagasse,

groundnut shell, cotton stalk, mustard stalk

and press mud briquettes.

Briquetting in India

16

Briquetting continued

As a recent addition municipal solid waste is

also densified for use as fuel in process

industries (tea, tobacco, textile, chemical,

paper, starch, tyre re-treading, tiles, etc) for

thermal applications.

17

Both the machines give briquettes with a density

of 1-1.2 gm/cc and are suitable as industrial solid

fuels.

The screw type machines provide briquettes with a

concentric hole that gives better combustibility and

is a preferred fuel.

These briquettes can also be more conveniently

deployed in small furnaces and even cook-stoves

than solid briquettes generated by a ram press.

Screw and Ram Press

18

19

Ram press for briquetting

20

COMBINED HEAT & POWER

STEAM INJECTED GAS TURBINE

INTERCOOLED STEAM INJECTED GAS

TURBINE

COMBINED CYCLE

21

22

23

24

25

Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre,

Chennai

(Kindly approach them for permission to

Use this knowhow)

charcoal briquetting

26

Muthaiya Chettiar Research Centre’s method of

charcoal briquetting

1. Locally available biomass (e.g., casuarina

leaf litter, sugarcane trash, rice husk, coir

pith, groundnut shells, etc)

2. Carbonizing chamber (furnace )

3. Binder (starch or cassava flour)

4. Mini Briquetting machine (10kg/hr)

27

1.Collection of biomass: Collect the locally available

biomass, sort them, chop the large-size raw materials into

smaller pieces and dry at sunlight.

2. Carbonization: i. Designing the Furnace

• Outer drum : A 200lits. metal oil drum with the top cut out

and a 12" width x 10" height hole cut in the lower side

• Two iron rids (8”) has to be fixed at the bottom of the metal

drum running parallel from one side to the other side. This

iron rods act as base to support the stainless steel inner

drum.

• Inner drum : A 100lits stainless steel drum with proper lids

and six (3/8") holes at the bottom. The inner drum is placed

into the larger drum.

28

MCRC’s method of charcoal briquetting [continued]

ii. Carbonizing the biomass

• The biomass is tightly packed into the

inner drum and fired for 45minutes to 1hr

(Depending upon the biomass) using

biomass.

• After firing, the carbonized biomass in the

inner drum has to collected and weighed. In

this method 30 % of carbonized char can be

obtained.

29

3. Preparation of binder

The binder material is used for strengthening the briquettes

For every 100 kg of total weight of carbonized charcoal

powder, prepare a binder mixture by adding 5 to 6 kg of

starch or cassava flour to 60 - 100 litres of water (based on

the weight of the raw materials)

4. Mixing

Mix such that every particle of carbonised charcoal material

is coated with binder. It will enhance charcoal adhesion and

produce identical briquettes.

30

5. Briquetting. The charcoal mixture is made

into briquettes either

manually or using machines. Pour the

mixture directly into the briquetting mold /

machine to form uniform-sized briquettes.

6. Drying and Packaging Collect the briquettes in a tray, dry them under the sunlight, pack them in plastic bags and seal

31

General Characteristics of briquettes

Moisture : 7.1%-7.8%

Volatile Matter : 13.0%-13.5%

Fixed Carbon : 81.0%-83.0%

Ash : 3.7%-7.7%

Sulfur : 0.0%

Heating Value : 7,100-7,300 kcal/kg

Density : 970kg/m3

32