Utilizing the Heat Waste from Biomass Power Generation to Reduce the Moisture Content of Woodchips

¹ Graduate Student of Renewable Energy, Darma Persada University, Jl. Taman Malaka Selatan No.22, Special Region of Jakarta 13450, Indonesia
² Graduate School of Renewable Energy, Darma Persada University, Jakarta 13450, Indonesia
³ Center of Renewable Energy Studies, Darma Persada University, Jakarta 13450, Indonesia
⁴ Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Diponegoro, Jl. Prof. Sudarto No.13, Semarang 50275, Central Java, Indonesia
⁵ Institute of Chemistry, University of Tartu, Ravila 14a, 50411 Tartu, Estonia
⁶ The Mineral and Energy Economy Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Wybickiego 7, 31-261 Kraków, Poland
⁷ Material Science and Engineering Student, Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Jl. Ganesha 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: aepsuyun@gmail.com

Abstract

This paper is to study the drying method to reduce the moisture content (MC) of the woodchip. The methods used are to utilize the heat from solar and waste heat from the Biomass Power Plant (BioPP). By using a 250 °C heat waste from the BioPP, and stirring on the woodchip inside the drying equipment, the results obtained to reduce the MC from more than 40 % to MC around 20 % will take 2 h and 4 h faster than that which was not done on woodchips. Reducing MC from 40 % to 20 % will save 25.44 % on the woodchip consumption for combustion in the boiler of the BioPP. An analysis related to MC, CV, and woodchip consumption in generating electricity is also carried out. When MC is 26.70 %, the CV is 13.5 GJ T^-1, and the woodchip consumption becomes 4.62 T h^-1 and 1.31 T MWh^-1, the energy produced is 764.7 kWh T^-1. When the MC is higher, 47.68 %, causing the CV to become 9.8 GJ T^-1, it is found that the consumption of the woodchips becomes 6.41 T h^-1 and 1.81 T MWh^-1, the energy produced is 551.3 kWh T^-1.