Empirical Model Development of Biomass Fuel Pellet Strength

Biomass is an organic material that can be used as a fuel it is a promising alternative for clean fuel production. However, by simply taking the biomass as a fuel without any improvement will not give the best source of energy because it will cause instability combustion, less durability, costly in transportation and storage. So, the main aim of this study is to develop, test and verify the Respond Surface Methodology (RSM) model using the Box-Behken Respond type by focusing on the strength of mixed biomass fuel pellet. Each type of biomass resources was manipulated in term of the moisture content, blend ratio and the particle size. The moisture content was tested with three different percentages, which is 8%, 10% and 12%, then the blend ratio with 25%, 50% and 75% of the woody biomass and the particle sizes with 150μm, 300μm and 450μm. This study describes the several factors that affecting the strength of the mixed biomass pellet such as the size of particle, blending ratio, lignin content, moisture content and the porosity. The biomass strength model created based on Pine and Timothy Hay can be used for the similar species with the factor of moisture content in the range of 8 – 12%, blend ratio is in the range of 25 – 50%, and the particle size in the range of 150μm and below.