1st China-Brazil Workshop on Biomass

Utilization and Combustion Diagnosis

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Power generation by biomass
waste of the sugar-cane industry
Prof. Dr. Waldir A. Bizzo
School of Mechanical Engineering
UNICAMP – University of Campinas
BRAZIL

10-12 May 2017 1

 University of Campinas: Location and Figures

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
• Over the Tropic of Capricorn

• On the suburbs of Campinas

• 100 km from São Paulo

● 24 Schools & Institutes

● 66 undergraduate courses
● 153 graduate courses (MSc; PhD)
● 19000 undergraduate students
● 16600 graduate students (MSc; PhD) UNICAMP
● 1867 Faculty members (99% PhD, 90% full time)
● 2812 ISI indexed papers in 2015 2
● Responsible for ~15% of the Brazil's Academic
Research
Outline:

● Overview: Sugar Cane in Brazil

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

Production and characterization of bagasse and

School of Mechanical Engineering

●

cane straw
● Energy from sugar cane, bagasse and cane straw
● Steam generators in sugar cane mills
● Simplified model and simulation of biomass particle
suspension combustion
● Work in progress and future developments
●

3
 The Role of Biomass in the Brazilian Energy Matrix

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
● Sugar cane products: bagasse and
ethanol – 16,9%
● Firewood and charcoal – 8,2%
● year: 2015

Total consumption: 320 Mtoe (year 2015)

(EPE, 2016)
The Role of Biomass in the Brazilian Energy Matrix

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Electricity generation

Biomass: 8% (bagasse ~6,5%)

● Electricity production: 581 TWh (2015) 5

● Power supply: 140 GW
 Production of Sugar Cane Sector in Brazil

year Cane (ton) Sugar (ton) Ethanol (m3) Bagasse (ton) Cane straw (ton)

2007 495.476.949 32.436.144 22.556.901 56.979.849 79.276.312

2008 552.798.990 30.337.413 27.140.405 63.571.884 88.447.838

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
2009 622.576.815 33.737.511 26.103.093 71.596.334 99.612.290
2010 627.302.255 37.661.079 27.962.558 72.139.759 100.368.361
2011 565.775.012 36.233.334 22.892.504 65.064.126 90.524.002
2012 594.273.503 38.509.753 23.539.991 68.341.453 95.083.760
2013 649.603.440 37.462.249 27.699.613 74.704.396 103.936.550
2014 633.396.038 35.334.372 28.549.536 72.840.544 101.343.366
2015 660.499.013 34.237.729 30.277.641 75.957.386 105.679.842

Main products of sugar cane: ● hydrous ethanol is used in flex

● sugar

● hydrous ethanol (92.3% weight)

fuel cars
● anhydrous ethanol (99.2% weight)
● flex fuel cars in Brazil can run on
ethanol, gasoline or a mix of
both
● the gasoline produced in Brazil
already has 27% of anhydrous
ethanol (in volume) 6
(Brazil, 2016)
The Cultivation of Sugar Cane and their Waste

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Sugar cane plantation

Productivity of sugar cane and waste

Yield
Yield Yield (t dry waste Moisture
Type of waste t ha-1 yr-1 t ha-1 yr-1 per t wet content %
(wet basis) (dry basis) stalk) (wet basis)
Stalks 104
Sugar cane plant Tops 1.69 0.3 0.003 82.3
Green leaves 5.14 1.66 0.016 67.7
Dry leaves 14.5 12.5 0.12 13.5
Sugar cane harvesting: Total waste 21.3 14.4 0.14 32.3 7
● manual harvesting
● mechanized harvesting (Carvalho, Veiga and Bizzo, 2017)
 Manual Harvesting of Sugar Cane

Dry leaves of the cane are burned in the field

before manual harvesting for:
● facilitate access and manual cutting of cane

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● chase away poisonous animals (snakes)

School of Mechanical Engineering

Due to environmental impacts, the São Paulo
State (largest producer of sugar cane in
Brazil) implemented a plan to stop the burning 8
of sugar cane before harvesting until 2017.
Currently, 80% of the harvest is mechanized
(Ronquim, 2010)
 Mechanized Harvesting
● the stalks are cut into billets 300 mm
long in the chopper;
● the cane trash and leaves mixed with
the billets are removed in the primary

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

extractor just above the chopper;

School of Mechanical Engineering

● the secondary extractor removes any
further cane trash and leaves at the
end of the elevator;
● leaves are separated and thrown to the
ground.

Sugar cane harvester (Bizzo et al, 2014; Carvalho, Veiga and Bizzo, 2017)
 Cane Straw Collecting
Three methods have been studied for cane straw collecting:
- baling
- forager
- whole-plant harvesting

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Baling: the cane straw left on
the ground is gathered in dense
bales using a baling machine to
facilitate transport.

Forage harvesting: the straw left

on the ground is collected
and shredded by a self-propelled
forage harvester, loaded onto
trucks and transported to the mill
separately from the cane.
10

(Carvalho, Veiga and Bizzo, 2017)

 Cane Straw Collecting
● Whole-plant harvesting: the straw and cane are loaded and transported
together to the mill, where the straw is separated in a dry cleaning station;
● fan extractors of the harvester are turned off, allowing the straw is collected along
with the chopped stalks;

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straw is separated in a separation system by aerodynamics principles.

School of Mechanical Engineering

●

Cane straw
(from Marino, 2013)

Dry cleaning station 11

Currently, few mills collect the straw for burning with bagasse, no more than 10% of the
fuel to the boiler.
 Cane Straw Collecting

Diesel is the main energy consumption in the process of straw collecting,

due to utilization of agricultural machinery and transport.

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
The system of straw collecting
that shows the lower energy
consumption is the whole-plant
harvesting, with the separation
of the straw in the mill.

The energy consumption for

collecting and transport of the
straw is about 1 to 2% of the
available energy of the straw.

12

(Carvalho, Veiga and Bizzo, 2017)

 Available Energy from Sugar Cane

Available energy per hectare of area planted with sugar cane

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Typical Lower Available Surplus
Moisture Heating Thermal Electricity
Yield Content Value Energy Generation
Product (t ha-1yr-1) (% w.b.) (MJ/kg) (GJ ha-1yr-1) (MWh ha-1 yr-1)
Cane 100 (wb.) - - -
Bagasse consumed in the boiler 10.6 (db.) 50 6.99 148.1
Surplus bagasse 1.9 (db.) 50 6.99 26.6 1.85
50% of straw collected 8.0 (db.) 20 12.15 121.5 8.44
75% of straw collected 12.0 (db.) 20 12.15 182.2 12.65
Anhydrous ethanol (1st generation) 6.32 1 23.69 151.2

The available energy from sugar cane is shared approximately:

35% in the bagasse

35% in the cane straw
30% in the ethanol produced 13
 Production and Characterization of Bagasse
Bagasse is obtained by crushing sugar cane due to extraction of juice, which will lead
to ethanol or sugar, after processing.

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Diagram showing a classic three- Sampling bagasse in the
roll mill arrangement. conveyor belt at the exit of mill

14

Mill Milling and preparation room

 Production and Characterization of Bagasse

Bagasse is composed of fibers and

pith, often forming a cluster of biomass,
with sizes from 0.1 to 5 mm in
diameter, and up to 50 mm long.

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School of Mechanical Engineering
25x

15

(Bizzo et al, 2014)

(from Lenço, 2010)
Characterization of Typical Bagasse and Cane Straw
element (%) Oxides Bagasse Cane straw
silicon
SiO2 43,0 38,0
aluminium Al2O3 7,0 8,3
Fe2O3 5,2 2,7

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iron

School of Mechanical Engineering

titanium Ti3O2 1,6 0,5
phosphorus P2O5 5,8 5,5
Bagasse Cane straw calcium CaO 12,7 8,1
% % magnesium MgO 6,7 4,6
C 42,6 40,8 sodium Na2O 0,2 0,0
carbon
potassium K2O 14,1 20,3
hydrogen H 5,9 6,2
sulfur
SO3 1,7 8,2
oxygen O 50,9 51,5 MnO2
manganese 0,5 0,0
nitrogen N 0,6 1,1 chlorine Cloro 0,2 3,8
S 0,1 0,1 Others 1,4 -
sulphur
Total 100 100
chlorine Cl 0,1 0,3  The ashes of bagasse and cane straw
 Bagasse and sugarcane straw has (mostly) have high potassium content,
typical characteristics similar to phosphorus and chlorine;
several lignocellulosic biomasses;  Potassium and phosphorus are
responsible for high fusibility of the ash, 16
 It is highlighted the greatest levels of increasing tendency to fouling;
ash, chlorine and nitrogen in cane  Chlorine and sulfur increase the
straw; possibility of corrosion at high
(Bizzo et al, 2014)
temperature.
Technological Challenges of Biomass as Energy
Source: Mineral Impurities

Campinas
Mecânica Engineering
- UNICAMP
Campinas of
University
of Mechanical
Estadual–de
de Engenharia
UNICAMP
Faculdade School
Universidade
The inorganic composition affects the
behaviour of the fuel within the boiler.

Deposits on superheater tubes

reduce the efficiency of the boiler 17
and can induce corrosion problems
depending on its composition.
 ● Bagasse is produced by
crushing sugar cane for
production of the juice;
●

● Bagasse, with 50%

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

humidity, is fed directly to

School of Mechanical Engineering

the steam generators for
the production of process
steam and electricity, in a
cogeneration system;
●

● Superheated steam
enters into back-pressure
turbines to drive mills,
turbo-pumps and turbo-
generators;
●

● Exhaust steam from

turbines, at 2.5 bar, feeds
heating processes for the
production of ethanol and 18
sugar.

Flow sheet of ethanol production (Bizzo et al, 2014)

 UNICAMP – University of Campinas
School of Mechanical Engineering
● Typical mills generate steam at 25 bar and 350 ºC.
● The newer plants have produced steam at 45, 60 and 80 bar, with temperatures
up to 510 ºC.
● The mills are energy independents, producing the electricity need to the
operation.
● Typically, 85% of the bagasse is consumed on the mill.
● Some plants with higher pressure steam generation, produce surplus electricity to
the grid.
19
● More than 50% of the steam generated is consumed in driving the mills.
● Most modern plants have replaced the low efficiency steam turbines for electric
motors to drive the mills.
Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills: Overview

●
~400 sugar cane mills
●
2 to 3 boilers per mill, about 1.000 bagasse boilers

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
●
Capacities: 40 a 350 t/h (35 to 350 MW) (45% less than 75 MW)
●
Fuel consumption: 20 a 175 t/h of bagasse
●
Steam pressure: 21 to 98 bar gauge (~70% less than 25 bar)
●
Steam temperature: 300 to 540°C

Furnace type
Time of use of the boilers
5% 5%
7%

1% 1% horse-shoe 24%
dumping grate 2% 27%
< 10 years
traveling grate
10~20
pin-hole grate
20~30
suspension burning
30~40
fluidized bed
>40 years

14%

20
82%
33%

(CTC, 2009)
Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills: Furnace Types
●
Furnace types:
– Horse-shoe
– Dumping grate
– Traveling grate Higher boiler

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
– Pin Hole fixed grate eficiency
– Suspension burning
– Fluidized bed

21
Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Horse-Shoe Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Old fashioned boiler with horse-shoe furnace

Bagasse is burned in piles inside

furnace with refractory walls 22

~5% of all Brazilian bagasse boilers

 Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Dumping Grate Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Dumping grate furnace

Grate bars tumble for cleaning,

Manual operation 23

~82% of all Brazilian bagasse boilers

Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Traveling Grate Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Traveling grate, derived from coal boiler furnace

24

~7% of all Brazilian bagasse boilers

 Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Pin-Hole Fixed Grate Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
pin-hole fixed grate Grate block,
type pin-hole,
the grate is set up over water tubes with steam
25
nozzle for
cleaning the
~5% of all Brazilian bagasse boilers grate
the utilization of this type of grate is rising in last years
Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Suspension Burning Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
26
Suspension burning furnace, derived from pulverized coal boilers

~1% of all Brazilian bagasse boilers

Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Fluidized Bed Furnace

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Fluidized bed, bubbling 27

Few units burning bagasse in Brazil

less than 8 boilers of all Brazilian bagasse boilers
 Steam Generators in Sugar Cane Mills:
Air Pollution Control

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Air pollution control equipment

School of Mechanical Engineering

● water scrubber
● multicyclones

air pollution control

10%

Emission limits:
3%
water scrubber
multicyclones
● Particulate matter: < 200 mg/Nm3 scrubber+multicyclone

● NOx: < 350 mg/Nm3 28

87%
Combustion system in grate-firing boiler for bagasse

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
● Bagasse is fed by
spreaders, usually 3 to 6
meters above the grate

● Primary air is fed under

the grate, sometimes pre-
heated

● Secondary air is fed

above the grate, at
various points and heights

29

(Cereijo, Curto-Risso and Bizzo, 2017)

 Bagasse spreaders

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Bagasse spreader, with axial
air injection and tangential
air

Simulated trajectory of
bagasse particles in the 30
furnace
(Arnao et al, 2014)
 UNICAMP – University of Campinas
School of Mechanical Engineering
Pin-hole type fixed grate, set up
over water tubes

Grate block, type

pin-hole, with
steam nozzle for 31
Combustion chamber of bagasse boiler, showing cleaning the grate
biomass entrance and secondary air injection
positions (from the author)
 Simplified model and simulation of biomass
particle suspension combustion
To understand better the combustion process in bagasse boilers, a simplified model
was elaborated to simulate the combustion of an isolated particle of bagasse

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
● Biomass has high volatiles content (~80%)
● Bagasse has high moisture content (~50%)
● Drying and devolatilization steps are very
important in modelling and simulation of
bagasse combustion

● Little particles can be model in

sequential steps:
● drying

● devolatilization

● gasification and combustion of

the char
● In larger particles, this steps can
occur simultaneously
● Bagasse can be considered a little 32
particle, because typically Biot <
0.1
(Cereijo, Curto-Risso and Bizzo, 2017)
Simplified model and simulation of biomass
particle suspension combustion

Energy balance of the particle

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School of Mechanical Engineering
33
 Simplified model and simulation of biomass
particle suspension combustion:
Drying:

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School of Mechanical Engineering
Pyrolysis kinetics:

5 pyrolysis reactions considered

● volatiles: non-condensables gases

(CO, H2, CO2)
● tar: condensables (CmHnOp)
● char: fixed Carbon 34
Simplified model and simulation of biomass particle
suspension combustion
Combustion of volatiles:

The combustion of volatiles is modeled as a sheet of flame with

one infinitely fast global reaction in the stoichiometric ratio

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School of Mechanical Engineering
Combustion and gasification of the char
The char combustion stage is modeled as a direct combustion
with O2 and parallel gasification with CO2 and H2O as reactants.

kinetic equations
35

mass transport equations

One-dimensional particle trajectory

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School of Mechanical Engineering
The vertical trajectory of a
particle of biomass was
determined from the balance of
forces on the particle, using a
size distribution characteristics
of bagasse.

36

(from Lenço, 2010)

Model Validation

The model was validated by comparing

the results with experimental data and
model results of other authors.

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Two situations were tested in the
step of combustion:
-shrinking core (no reaction core
exposed due to the external layer
of ash)
-ash segregated (reaction core
exposed due to breakage of the
ash layer).

For particles of diameter less than

3 mm, the exposed core model
(ash segregated) presented the
best results.

37
Results from simulation

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Results allow estimating vertical velocity of the particles and this 38
vertical position as a function of time, until the total consumption of
the mass of the particle, considering the vertical velocity of the
combustion gases in the furnace.
 Conclusions: Results from simulation

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Furnace boiler in construction

Otherwise, the simulation allows to estimate the minimum height of the combustion
chamber, above the position of the bagasse spreader, required for complete
combustion of the particle as a function of the vertical velocity of the combustion
gases.
39
 Working in Progress

Future development: from a geometry set in advance (total height of

combustion chamber and height of the distributor above the grate), estimating
the distribution of particle size and composition of the material deposited on the
grate. Simulating firing biomass over the grate.

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Experimental set up: fixed grate, laboratory scale, to study the behavior of
bagasse, cane straw and a mix of both in fixed bed combustion and pyrolysis
Parameters to investigate: temperature distribution in function of time and primary
air flux, pyrolysis reaction rate, combustion and gasification reaction rate, pyrolysis
gases composition, ashes behavior in the grate.

40
 Aknowledgements

Team:

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

School of Mechanical Engineering
Danilo José Carvalho
Eugênio Morita
Luis Roberto Castro
Diego Luis Franco Jácome
Handel Andres Martinez Sarache
Neill Gustavo Bergamini Gomes
Luiz Augusto Badan Ribeiro
Leandro Alves Moya
Cássia Castro Portilho Dias
Caryl Andre Barquero Schutze
Deyber Alexander Ramirez Quintero
Laidy Esperanza Hernandez Mena

41
Financial Support:
 Thanks for your attention!

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

42

School of Mechanical Engineering

References:
Arnao, JHS et al. Influencia da geometria do espargidor na injeção e queima de bagaço
de cana de açúcar. COBEQ – XX Congresso Brasileiro de Engenharia Química, 19-
22-out-2014, 2014.
Bizzo, WA, Lenço, PC, Carvalho, DJ and Veiga, JPS. The generation of residual biomass
during the production of bio-ethanol from sugarcane, its characterization and its use in

UNICAMP – University of Campinas

energy production. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol 29, 589-603,

School of Mechanical Engineering

2014.
Brazil, Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. Comparison Table of the
Production of Sugar Cane Sector at Brazil, 2016
Carvalho, DJ, Veiga, JPS and Bizzo, WA. Analysis of energy consumption in three
systems for collecting sugarcane straw for use in power generation, Energy, vol 119,
178-187, 2017
Cereijo, NG, Curto-Risso, P and Bizzo, WA. Simplified model and simulation of biomass
particle suspension combustion in one-dimensional flow applied to bagasse boilers.
Biomass and Bioenergy, vol. 99, 38-48, 2017.
CTC - Centro de Tecnologia Canavieira. Emissões Atmosféricas Caldeiras de Bagaço,
CETESB, 2009.
EPE – Empresa de Pesquisa Energética, Brazilian Energy Balance 2016 Year 2015,
Rio de Janeiro, 2016
Lenço, PC. Caracterização do bagaço de cana-de-açúcar para geração de energia.
Doctoral Thesis, School of Mechanical Engineering, UNICAMP, 2010.
Marino, E. Visão atualizada sobre a produção de vapor em usinas e destilarias. 14 a SBA
– A Usina da Superação, STAB, Piracicaba, SP, 2013.
Ronquim, CC. Queimada na colheita de cana-de-açúcar: impactos ambientais,, sociais e 43
econômicos. Embrapa Monitoramento por Satélite, 2010.
Tobiasen, L et. al. Deposit characteristic after injection of additives to a Danish straw-fired
suspension boiler. Fuel Processing Technology, vol 88, 1108-1117, 2007.