Mamvura T A, Danha G
Department of Chemical, Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, College of Engineering and Technology, Botswana International University of Science and Technology, Plot 10071, Boseja Ward, Private Bag 16 Palapye, Botswana.
Heliyon. 2020 Mar 12;6(3):e03531. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e03531. eCollection 2020 Mar.
Biomass torrefaction has gained widespread attention due to its benefits as a standalone process to improve biomass properties to be at par or similar to those for coal in electricity generation or as a pretreatment step before pyrolysis and gasification processes. It has also found application in other processes like steel production where it is aiming to replace coal or work alongside coal by co-firing the coal with biomass at certain proportions. There have been a lot of papers on biomass torrefaction review, but this paper tried to look at a different angle to show other aspects of torrefaction and how it links to other technologies as well as the chemistry behind it. Overall, the process has seen a big shift in the technology it utilizes, and the hope is that it will make the process more viable and applicable in future. The focus starts from the raw biomass, how it is analysed and the different analysis that are performed to determine relevant information about biomass properties. There are different reactors that are used but to date there is not a preferred one as they have their pros and cons. However, the focus mostly is the process not which reactor to use as they have all not shown any significant differences. The main product of the process, torrefied biomass determines the efficiency and how it can be applied to other technologies. To date, biomass torrefaction is for co-firing with coal for energy generation and as a pretreatment step for pyrolysis and gasification. Due to varying types of biomass in different countries, the technology has not yet reached its full potential, but the hope is it will with calls for use of renewable sources of energy. Other areas like modelling torrefaction of biomass have not been looked at in this review. However, the paper sets the foundations for such detailed reviews.
生物质烘焙因其作为一种独立工艺的优势而受到广泛关注，该工艺可改善生物质的特性，使其在发电方面与煤炭相当或相似，或者作为热解和气化工艺之前的预处理步骤。它还在其他工艺中得到应用，如钢铁生产，其目的是通过以一定比例将生物质与煤炭混合燃烧来替代煤炭或与煤炭协同使用。已经有很多关于生物质烘焙综述的论文，但本文试图从不同角度展示烘焙的其他方面，以及它如何与其他技术相联系及其背后的化学原理。总体而言，该工艺所采用的技术发生了重大转变，希望这将使该工艺在未来更具可行性和适用性。重点从原始生物质开始，介绍如何对其进行分析以及为确定生物质特性的相关信息而进行的不同分析。使用了不同的反应器，但迄今为止没有一个是首选的，因为它们都有优缺点。然而，重点主要是工艺本身，而不是使用哪种反应器，因为它们都没有显示出任何显著差异。该工艺的主要产物——烘焙生物质决定了效率以及它如何应用于其他技术。迄今为止，生物质烘焙用于与煤炭混合燃烧以发电，以及作为热解和气化的预处理步骤。由于不同国家生物质类型各异，该技术尚未发挥其全部潜力，但随着对可再生能源使用的呼声，有望实现这一目标。本文综述未涉及生物质烘焙建模等其他领域。然而，本文为此类详细综述奠定了基础。
