Takako Honjo

New Fuel BCDF (Bio-Carbonized-Densified-Fuel): The Effect of Semi-Carbonization

Publisher Summary Woody biomass is a potential energy resource for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Two-third of the land area in Japan is covered with forest, but only a small amount of woody biomass is utilized for energy production. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the labor and costs of gathering and transporting the materials to utilize it for energy production in Japan. This chapter explains how to improve the calorific density of woody biomass pellets, and reduce the transportation cost per unit energy. Increasing the energy density of bio-fuel is the most important requisite to improve its transportability. After the biomass is completely dried, it is dehydrated further by decomposition of cellulose, hemi-cellulose, and lignin, during carbonization. During dehydration, this process also occurs with the accompanying organic volatiles, and the energy yield of the carbonized wood is reduced. Therefore, semi-carbonizing conditions, at which maximum energy yield can be achieved, should exist. This chapter examines the optimum semi-carbonizing condition for pelletizing. In Japan, the amount of forest growth is big, which is estimated at 500Mdry-t/y. Nowadays, felling, collecting, and transportation are labor-intensive, hence, very expensive. Consequently, it is difficult for woody biomass to compete with fossil fuels in terms of price in Japan.