Values for particle-scale properties of biomass briquettes made from agroforestry residues

The production of biomass pellets and briquettes from agroforestry residues has increased rapidly in recent years. The design of machines, equipment and the infrastructure necessary for the handling, transport and storage of these products has been an engineering challenge since, when moving, biomass does not usually flow as easily as other granular materials. The discrete element method (DEM) provides a means of studying the handling and silo discharge behaviour of granular solids as well as the distribution of the pressures exerted by such materials in silos. However, the development of such models requires certain properties of the particles in question to be known. The present work experimentally determines the true density, Young's modulus of elasticity (axial and radial), the particle–particle restitution coefficient and the particle–wall friction coefficient—all variables that must be known in the construction of DEM models—for briquettes made from maize stalk, maize stalk plus pine wood chips, rice husk, vine shoots, rape straw, cereal straw and sawdust plus cereal straw.