Pre-normative investigations have revealed that there are methods for sampling and testing as well as for quality assurance in use for solid fossil fuels (e. g. hard coal). These methods can, in the first instance, be applied to solid biofuels as well. However, experience has shown that some methods cannot always be applied completely successfully. This is especially the case for new and not so well known biofuels (like straw). Although the European Committee on Standardization – Technical Committee 335 "Solid Biofuels" will continue to develop standards on the basis of the best information currently available, it recognises the strong need for further research in some areas to improve the reliability of selected sampling and testing methods, and the strong need for the development of an overall quality assurance system for solid biofuels taking practical needs into consideration.
Objectives
Therefore, the aim of this project is to carry out researches to improve sampling and sample reduction procedures as well as physical and chemical tests on solid biofuels. The results of these researches will be integrated into a fuel quality assurance system covering the overall supply chain. Besides this the results of the different tasks will be fed directly into the ongoing work of CEN TC 335 "Solid Biofuels". This will allow to accelerate the development of 3 standards taking the practical needs and necessary accuracy into account.
Description of tasks
Sampling (Work Package I) - sampling process (especially for inhomogeneous materials) ; - mass reduction of the sample. Physical-mechanical properties (Work Package II) Tests aiming to improve the following things will be stressed : - determination of moisture content (including rapid testing) and bulk density ;determination of the ash melting behaviour ; - determination of the size and distribution of the particles ; - determination of the durability and net density of pellets and briquettes. Chemical properties (Work Package III) It is planned to improve tests with regard to : - determination of chlorine, nitrogen and sulphur ; - determination of the precision(repeatability and reproducibility) of tests for major and minor elements. Development of an overall quality assurance system for biofuels (Work Package IV). The following objectives must be achieved : - starting from the study of existing systems and from the results of the other WP (1, 2 and 3), development of basic ideas for the setting up of a quality assurance system appropriate for the production and supply of solid biofuels ; - implementation of the ISO 9 000 standard ("quality systems") by different companies producing, preparing, handling and/or trading biomass for energy use (elaboration of model quality systems) ; - development of a proposal of an integrated quality assurance system for solid biofuels taking into account the overall supply chain based on the results of the two previous actions. Within this project, DGR is a partner of the working group “Physical properties” and coordinates the task “durability and raw density of pellets and briquettes”.
Results obtained
The tasks the Department is taking care of lead to an assessment of the possible methods to test the physical properties of the following biofuels : quick assessment of the moisture content, granulometric classification, volumic mass in bulk, net density and durability of pellets and briquettes. The methods were compared with each other during the « round robin tests » including several partners (from 4 to 10 according to the methods) and different fuels representative of the European market. These tests made it possible to define, among other things, the repetability and reproducability linked to each method. As an example, the repeatability (r) and the reproducibility (R) of two methods assessing the durability of pellets are presented in the following table : a absolute values b relative values Method ar br% aR bR% ASAE 0.6 0.6 0.7 0.7 ÖNORM 1.0 1.1 3.0 3.0 The results obtained during this project were directly transmitted to the different working groups of the CEN TC 335 – Solid biofuels in order to be used in the preparation of technical specifications being written.
Contribution
Agricultural Research Centre-Wallonia – Biometry Unit, Data management, Agrometeorology for the statistical analysis of the results
Partners
The BioNorm project is carried out by a consortium of more than 40 partners among which the coordinator is the Institute for Energy and Environment of Leipzig in Germany.
CRAW off coordinator
M. Karltschmit Institute for Energy and Environment Leipzig.
