Pellet Profile while the pressure under the roller can be in the thousands of pounds per square inch. Gall says there is no heater in the pellet mill, but the pressure applied to the feedstock creates enough internal friction to generate a rapid temperature increase. The mill being used for the research project – the Inuvik Pellet Mill – is tailored for a medium-sized farm, he says. The work space is about 40 feet long by 10 feet wide, and is able to accommodate a shredder, storage silo and the mill itself. The mill is Lawson Mills Ltd.’s BN-10 model (also associated with the silo) while the boilers are a mix, with most being MES – redistributed Okofen units. The set-up can produce between 200 and 250 pounds of pellets an hour. “It’s perfect for our experimentation now, and the size of the waste diversion cardboard stream that we have here is not bad at all,” Gall says. Combustion data suggested five per cent cardboard pellets blended with wood pellets would produce the most desirable results in terms of heat generation and ash content. For cardboard to fully burn, it requires a little more air than wood pellets. Most pellet boilers have a forced air system, but its settings were adjusted accordingly to ensure the mix burned the most efficiently. Gall says the data predicted a higher ash percentage with the inclusion of cardboard pellets. Using that value, it was determined 10 per cent by weight mass of ash was expected from the cardboard pellets, while the mass from wood pellets was between one and three per cent. A limit of no more than five per cent ash by mass was recommended for the boilers used for the project. “We came up with the idea of blending cardboard pellets with wood pellets to amplify the value a little bit, but we never expect to exceed five per cent by mass of ash content,” Gall says, adding that the researchers spoke with mill operators tasked with regular maintenance, who concurred that a five per cent cardboard pellet content was best. When compressed and burned in a pelletized form, cardboard’s performance increases. But, controlling the ash content in the boilers was a major concern, he says. It was also determined that cardboard pellets have 15 per cent less heating value than their wood counterparts. This information was used to come up with an equivalent street value to that of wood pellets, enabling the research team to see if their manufacturing costs exceeded or fell beneath that price. They found they could at least break even or have the chance to become profitable if a subsidy system or municipal waste diversion system could be introduced. EXCLUSIVE | Cardinal is the only authorized distributor for Eastern Canada of BM&M Screening Solutions Ltd products. From single units to complete turnkey systems, CSE Bliss Manufacturing specializes in an industry leading line of hammer mills, rotary feeders, pellet coolers, parts and rebuilds, providing the complete solutions that only the CSE Bliss family can offer. p S cre en in #1 C hi th A meric a or N Contact us today to find out how we can help improve your process efficiency! 580-749-4895 | www.csebliss.com www.cardinalsaw.com [email protected] Follow us 12 Canadian BIOMASS CB_CSE Bliss_Summer20_CSA.indd 1 SUMMER 2021 2020-07-07 1:57 PM
Canadian Biomass Summer 2021: Page 12
