(36e) Effect of Particle Size, Moisture Content, and Tissue Fraction on Mechanical and Feeding Behavior of Milled Corn Stover and Loblolly Pine Residues

Biomass has enormous potential as a promising and sustainable feedstock for the production of bioenergy. However, this potential has been hampered due to handling and feeding issues resulting in the inability to operate the biorefineries at full capacity. To improve operational reliability, it is essential to accurately characterize the mechanical and physical properties, and flow performance of these diverse resources. Hence, this work overviews the impact of material types (woody, herbaceous) and attributes (particle size, moisture, anatomical tissue distribution) on rotational shear, compressibility, elastic recovery, and flow performance. Shear tests are conducted on a rotary shear tester (Schulze-style tester), while compressibility and elastic recovery were characterized from a uniaxial consolidation test. Flow performance was evaluated in a customized wedge hopper with variable wall inclination angle and an Acrison® screw feeder. Results showed that the mass flow rate decreased with the increase of particle size while increasing with the increase of moisture content. Individual tissue fractions are contributed towards the mass flow. The power consumption followed the same trend as the mass flow rate for most materials. These findings are discussed in the context of feedstock variability, their potential mitigation in material preprocessing, and how these variable properties translate to flow handling challenges that are facing in the growing biorefinery operations.