Delft University of Technology Faculty Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

FACULTY MECHANICAL, MARITIME AND
MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Delft University of Technology Department Marine and Transport Technology
Mekelweg 2
2628 CD Delft
the Netherlands
Phone +31 (0)15-2782889
Fax +31 (0)15-2781397
www.mtt.tudelft.nl
Specialization: Transport Engineering and Logistics
Report number: 2014.TEL.7893
Title: Biomass handling equipment in

European ports; an overview of
current designs and required
design improvements
Author: L.S.J.C. Lanphen
Title (in Dutch) Biomassa installaties in Europese havens;

Een overzicht van huidige ontwerpen en de benodigde ontwerp verbeteringen
Assignment: Literature Study
Confidential: No
Initiator (university): Delft University of Technology
Supervisor: ir. I. Dafnomilis

Dr. ir. D. L. Schott
Date: January 22, 2015
This report consists of 44 pages. It may only be reproduced literally and as a whole. For commercial purposes
only with written authorization of Delft University of Technology. Requests for consult are only taken into
consideration under the condition that the applicant denies all legal rights on liabilities concerning the contents of
the advice.
FACULTY OF MECHANICAL, MARITIME AND
MATERIALS ENGINEERING
Delft University of Technology Department of Marine and Transport Technology
Mekelweg 2
2628 CD Delft
the Netherlands
Phone +31 (0)15-2782889
Fax +31 (0)15-2781397
www.mtt.tudelft.nl
Student: L.S.J.C. Lanphen Assignment type: Literature study

Supervisor (TUD): ir. I. Dafnomilis Creditpoints (EC): 10
Dr. ir. D.L. Schott
Specialization: TEL
Report number: 2014.TEL.7893
Confidential: No
Subject: Biomass handling equipment in European ports; an overview of current designs

and required design improvements
A global transition is currently made in the energy sector from fossil fuel technologies towards
renewable energy technologies. As a result, the interest in the use of biomass as a renewable energy
source and as a low carbon fuel is growing worldwide.
Due to high moisture content, irregular particle sizes and low bulk density, biomass is difficult to
handle. It is because of these reasons that it is important that biomass is handled with special
designed biomass equipment. Use of the wrong equipment can damaged the biomass material and
the equipment itself or even worse, accidents can occur.
A main challenge is limiting the effects of the handling and storage equipment on the physical
properties of the biomass. These effects can create biomass material degradation, damage to the
equipment and cause health hazards.
The research in this literature study should cover the following subjects:
 An overview of the current state of the art biomass handling equipment used in the bulk
industry in European ports
 How the biomass handling equipment affects the physical properties of the biomass
 Research on current problems concerning the biomass handling equipment
 Research on possible improvements to the biomass handling equipment
Based on your literature survey, it is expected that you conclude with a recommendation for future
research opportunities and potential for more ideas and/or applications. The report must be written in
English and must comply with the guidelines of the section. Details can be found on the website.
For more information, contact Dr. ir. D. L. Schott (B-4-300; D.L.Schott@tudelft.nl)
The professor and supervisors,
Prof. dr. ir. G. Lodewijks, ir. I. Dafnomilis & Dr. ir. D.L. Schott
Biomass handling equipment in
European ports
An overview of current designs and required design
improvements
L.S.J.C. Lanphen
1369512
University of Technology Delft
S UMMARY
A global transition is currently going on in the energy sector from fossil fuel technologies towards renewable
energy technologies. As a result, the interest in the use of biomass as a renewable energy source and a low
carbon fuel is growing worldwide. According to the European Parliament, biomass is the biodegradable frac-
tion of products, waste and residues from biological origin from agriculture (including vegetal and animal
substances), forestry and related industries including fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable
fraction of industrial and municipal waste. In this literature study, the four most common- and two most
promising solid and liquid biomass types have been researched, namely wood pellets, wood chips, ethanol
and biodiesel as common types and torrefied pellets and pyrolysis oil as promising types.
Due to high moisture content, irregular particle sizes and low bulk density, biomass is difficult to handle with
respect to their fossil fuel equivalents. It is because of these reasons that it is important that some biomass
types are handled with special biomass equipment during certain process stages. Use of the wrong equip-
ment can damage the biomass material and the equipment itself or even worse, accidents can occur. A
main challenge is limiting the effects of the handling and storage equipment on the physical properties of
the biomass. These effects can create biomass material degradation, damage equipment and cause health
hazards.
In this literature study an overview is created of the current state of the art biomass handling equipment
used in the bulk terminal industry. The different types of biomass handling equipment, that are described
are differentiated by their handling function; transshipment, transportation, transfer, storage or reclaiming.
Furthermore, internal and external problems with handling biomass are identified, which can be categorized
under the following subjects:
- Material degradation - Dust emission & explosions

- Cross contamination - Wear and corrosion
- Spillage - Unwanted chemical reaction
- Self-heating & fires - Unwanted material flow behaviour
Dust is one of the main problems when handling solid biomass, which is particularly a problem for wood
pellets. Dust is created when there is interaction between the solid biomass and the handling equipment,
due to the handling forces acting on the solid biomass: compression, impact and shearing forces. Besides the
problems, also possible improvements are described to deal with the identified problems. The improvements
with the highest impact for solid biomass are using enclosed equipment, more gentle handling (compared to
coal) and dust and self-heating detection devices.
For liquid biomass the main problem is the use of wrong equipment materials. Corrosion of handling and
storage equipment not only causes possible equipment failures and higher maintenance, but it also results
in the contamination of the liquid biomass with corrosion particles. The improvements with the highest im-
pact that has been found for liquid biomass, are choosing the right equipment material, being able to heat
the biomass (lowering the viscosity) and create good ambient conditions (no contact with oxygen, water and
sunlight).
The biomass handling industry is growing rapidly and as such, so is the diversity of handling equipment
for the selected solid and liquid biomass. However, not all the equipment used is specially designed biomass
handling equipment. When handling biomass it can cause several problems, which can be avoided by using
the current equipment in a different way or redesigning current equipment.
1 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

C ONTENTS
Summary 1
1 Introduction 5
2 Biomass Characteristics 7
2.1 Solid Biomass Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.1 Wood pellets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.2 Wood chips . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.3 Torrefied pellets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.1.4 Physical properties of solid biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Liquid Biomass Characteristics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.1 Ethanol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2 Biodiesel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.3 Pyrolysis oil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.4 Physical properties of liquid biomass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 Biomass standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.1 Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.2 Safety . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.3 Standards focus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Interaction of the dry biomass with the handling equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3 Current Biomass Handling Equipment 15
3.1 Solid Bulk Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
3.1.1 Transshipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3.1.2 Transportation & Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1.3 Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.1.4 Reclaiming systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.1.5 Loading systems in combination with transport equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.1.6 Different set-up of handling equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.1.7 Solid biomass handling equipment overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
3.2 Liquid Bulk Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2.1 Transshipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3.2.2 Transportation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2.3 Storage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2.4 Loading systems in combination with transport equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2.5 Liquid biomass handling equipment overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
4 Biomass Equipment Requirements 31
4.1 Biomass handling problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.1 Internal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
4.1.2 External . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
4.2 Design improvements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.1 Designing handling equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
4.2.2 Designing storage equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
5 Conclusion & Recommendations 37
5.1 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
5.2 Recommendation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
References 41

1
I NTRODUCTION
B ACKGROUND
A global transition is currently made in the energy sector from fossil fuel technologies towards renewable en-
ergy technologies. As a result, the interest in the use of biomass as a renewable energy source and as a low
carbon fuel is growing worldwide from an annual production of 12 million tons of wood pellets in 2012 to an
expected 100 million tons by 2020 [Pelletcouncil.eu, 2014]. Global forecasts has been made in several stud-
ies on the contribution of biomass in the energy supply industry. The conclusion of all these studies is that
the use of biomass will increase significant in the coming years, but no agreement is made on the maximum
level of biomass exploitation [Berndes et al., 2003], [Yamamoto et al., 2001], [Jäger-Waldau and Ossenbrink,
2004]. According to the European Parliament, biomass is the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and
residues from biological origin from agriculture (including vegetal and animal substances), forestry and re-
lated industries including fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of industrial and
municipal waste [European Parliament, 2009]. There are five types of biomass, namely; wood products, agri-
cultural products, solid waste, landfill gas and alcohol fuels.
"Because of high moisture content, irregular shape and sizes and low bulk density biomass is very difficult
to handle, transport, store, and utilize in its original form” [Kaliyan and Morey, 2009]. It is because of these
reasons that it is important that biomass is handled with special biomass equipment. Use of the wrong equip-
ment can damaged the biomass material and the equipment itself or even worse, accidents can occur. Several
examples can be found of accidents related to these storage and transportation problems of solid biofuels (es-
pecially wood pellets) [Stelte, 2012]. The current biomass supply chain, where biomass is converted into an
useful form of energy, cannot compete with current fossil fuel energy suppliers in terms of costs (These trans-
portation and handling costs make up 20-50% of the total activities [Allen et al., 1998]). As a result, nowadays,
these large bulk biomass types (except wood chips) are processed products, with improved energy content,
transport and storage characteristics.
P ROBLEM STATEMENT
An advantage of biomass, in comparison to other renewable energy sources, is that it can generate energy
on demand throughout the year. However, handling and storage of biomass creates challenges, because for
every new kind of bulk handling material, a new type of logistics is needed. A main challenge is limiting the
effects of the handling and storage equipment on the physical properties of the biomass. These effects can
create biomass material degradation and they can also damage the equipment and cause health hazards.

6 1. I NTRODUCTION
R ESEARCH SCOPE
The research subject is very broad, in order to make the research more manageable, the scope need to be
narrowed down. An example of commonly used process phases within the woody biomass supply chain is
illustrated in Figure 1.1. It can be seen that there is a large diversity of process steps. Each step requires its
own handling equipment. In this research only the terminal handling equipment of the port storage and
handling is included in the scope (the highlighted process steps in Figure 1.1). So only the handling and
storage equipment for processed loose biomass from the transshipment phase up to the loading phase are
discussed in this research. Therefore, the handling of pellets in bags is excluded from the scope. The focus of
this literature study is on the biomass bulk handling industry present in European ports.
Figure 1.1: The supply chain of woody biomass [Drax Group plc, 2013]
The diversity of biomass materials is also very broad. So the choice has been made, in discussion with the
supervisors of this report, to focus only on the four most common and the two most promising solid and
liquid biomass forms (torrefied pellets and pyrolysis oil are the promising biomass forms).
Scope solid biomass: Scope liquid biomass:

- Wood pellets - Ethanol
- Wood chips - Biodiesel
- Torrefied pellets - Pyrolysis oil
R ESEARCH GOAL
The goal of this literature study is to create an overview of the current state of the art biomass handling equip-
ment used in the bulk terminal industry and to look for improvements of the biomass handling equipment.
This goal is defined in the following research question;
“What kind of biomass handling equipment is currently being used and in which way can biomass be handled
without affecting its physical properties?”
In order to reach this research goal, three sub-questions are defined, which will be answered in the coming
information chapters.
1. Regarding the design of the biomass handling equipment:

(a) Which biomass bulk handling characteristics drive the design?
(b) Which industrial standards are currently being used?
(c) How does the solid biomass interact with the equipment?
2. What kind of solid and liquid biomass handling equipment is currently being used in industry?
3. Which problems occur with the biomass handling equipment and what could be potential design im-
provements?
R EPORT OUTLINE
To reach the goal of this literature study several subjects need to be discussed in this report. In chapter 2 the
different kinds of solid and liquid biomass are described, current industrial standards on biomass are sum-
marized and the interaction between solid biomass and the handling equipment is explained. The currently
used biomass handling equipment is described in chapter 3. In chapter 4, biomass handling problems are
identified and the design requirements for the biomass handling equipment (of the different kinds of bulk
handling equipment) is discussed. Finally, chapter 5 presents the conclusion and recommendations of this
literature study.
2
B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS
This chapter will cover the first sub-question of the research to gain more understanding concerning the
design of the biomass handling equipment. The first part will describe which biomass bulk handling charac-
teristics drive the biomass handling design of both solid and liquid biomass. The next part will summarize
which industrial standards are currently being used and the end of this chapter will discuss how the solid
biomass interacts with the handling equipment.
2.1. S OLID B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS

The solid biomass forms, concerning wood pellets, wood chips and torrefied pellets, are briefly described
from section 2.1.1 up to section 2.1.3. These solid biomass forms are harvest residues from the forest product
industry. A schematic representation of this solid biomass material flow is illustrated in Figure 2.1. In sec-
tion 2.1.4 the physical properties of the biomass are summarized and compared to coal. This is done, due
to the fact that the coal handling industry is currently or will be handling solid biomass in the near future
instead of coal. By comparing the characteristics of coal with solid biomass, one can estimate the required
modifications to the current handling equipment.
Figure 2.1: Global forest product industry [Drax Group plc, 2013]

8 2. B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS
Figure 2.2: Wood pellets Figure 2.3: Wood chips

Figure 2.4: Torrefied pellets
2.1.1. W OOD PELLETS

Wood pellets, see Figure 2.2, consist of dried and densified sawdust, wood shavings or wood powder and are
the most compact form of solid biomass [Alakangas et al., 2007]. Wood pellets are one of the fastest growing
forms of upgraded biomass in Europe, because the pelletization process is currently the most economic and
energy saving way to convert biomass into a fuel with high energy density and consistent quality [Pelletcoun-
cil.eu, 2014].
2.1.2. W OOD CHIPS

Wood chips are larger pieces from forest residues made by cutting or chipping, see Figure 2.3. A big advantage
of the wood chips are the low cost, because wood chips are a waste material and do not undergo expensive
treatment steps. A downside of wood chips is that they have a higher moisture content, a lower energy con-
tent and a lower bulk density in comparison to the other solid biomass types. Since the wood chips can be
used for gasification to generate electricity, the percentage of wood chips in the energy sector is increasing
[Commission, 2005].
2.1.3. T ORREFIED PELLETS

Torrefaction, a relatively new technology, is a pre-treatment technique, carried out at 200-300 °C in absence
of oxygen, to upgrade the fuel quality of biomass. This is commonly combined with pelletization. Bergman
and Kiel [2005] states that the occurring decomposition reactions at this temperature level cause the biomass
to become completely dry and looses its tenacious and fibrous structure. As a result the grindability of the
subjected biomass is improved significantly. Torrefied wood pellets (Figure 2.4) typically contain 70% of its
initial weight and 90% of the original energy content [Bradley et al., 2009]. In addition, torrefaction increases
the calorific value and the hygroscopic nature of the biomass can be destructed to yield a hydrophobic mate-
rial. Furthermore, torrefied pellets have several advantages over wood pellets. Torrefied pellets are chemical
stable and do not decompose, which decreases fire hazards. They can be stored outdoors, because they do
not easily absorb water. Torrefied pellets are also more resistant regarding compression, impact and shearing
forces, which reduces the formation of dust particles [Janzé, 2010].
2.1.4. P HYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOLID BIOMASS

In this section the physical properties of wood pellets, wood chips and torrefied pellets are summarized and
compared to bituminous coal. Bituminous coal is a type of coal most commonly used to produce electricity
and in terms of properties, this type of coal is the nearest type of fossil fuel to biomass. Furthermore, currently
power plants use solid biomass materials and products to be co-fired with coal.
In section 5.1.2 in the PhD thesis of Wu, a comparison is made between the selected solid biomass and coal
[Wu, 2012]. The similarities and differences are presented in Table 2.1 and can be summarized in the following
points:
• The particle densities for wood- and torrefied pellets are similar
• The bulk density is smaller for the solid biomass than bituminous coal
• The moisture content of wood pellets and torrefied pellets is similar to anthracite coal
• The moisture content of wood chips is similar to lignite and sub-bituminous coal
• The effective angle of internal friction is similar for coal and the solid biomass. Except for wood pellets,
which have a lower friction angle
• The angles of repose of solid biomass and bituminous coal are in the same order of magnitude
• The range of the wall friction angles are similar for the solid biomass and bituminous coal
2.2. L IQUID B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS 9
The effective angle of internal friction and the wall friction angles are quite similar for solid biomass and bi-
tuminous coal. This means that when designing a silo, the cone angle is the same for bituminous coal as for
wood chips and torrefied pellets. Wood pellets will have a bigger cone angle when the wall friction is smaller
than 23° or a smaller cone angle when the wall friction is bigger than 23° compared to bituminous coal, wood
chips and torrefied pellets.
The angles of repose of solid biomass and bituminous coal are more or less similar. So when designing stor-
age, a hopper or a conveyor belt, this will not alter the design [Lodewijks and Schott, 2013].
An other comparison that can be made is that the energy content of the solid biomass is smaller than that
of the bituminous coal. This problem is commonly known, but with techniques like pelletization they try to
increase the energy content.
Table 2.1: Physical properties of the selected solid biomass compared to bituminous coal [Wu et al., 2011], [Wu, 2012]
Material Bituminous coal Wood pellets Wood chips Torrefied pellets

Size - 6, 8, 12 mm (∅) 0 - 100 mm (L) 5-8 mm (L)
Particle density [kg/m 3 ] 1200 - 1800 1103 - 1901 N/A 1280 - 1361
Bulk density [kg/m 3 ] 720 - 880 498 - 649 209 - 273 610 668
Energy content [GJ/ton] 27 16 - 18 14 - 17 8 - 21
Moisture content [%] ◁20 8 - 11 41 - 51 3.9 - 4.1
Internal friction angle [°] - 33 - 43 44 - 49 41 - 50
Effective internal friction 55 39 - 45 44 - 54 44 - 56
angle [°]
Angle of repose [°] 35 - 45 37 - 41 43 - 49 42 - 46
Breakage N/A Easy to break N/A Stronger than
wood pellets
Wall friction angle [°] - 9 - 35 14 - 37 12 - 31
PE - Concrete PE - Concrete PE - Concrete
2.2. L IQUID B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS

Short descriptions of the liquid biomass can be found in the section 2.2.1 up to section 2.2.3. Here are the
physical properties of the liquid biomass summarized in section 2.2.4 and compared to gasoline, diesel oil
and heavy fuel oil, which are illustrated in Figure 2.5 up to Figure 2.7.
Figure 2.5: Ethanol Figure 2.7: Pyrolysis Oil

Figure 2.6: Biodiesel
2.2.1. E THANOL
Ethanol, also know as bioethanol, is the most widely produced and transported biofuel in the world. This
biofuel is obtained by fermentation of carbohydrate-rich raw materials, which can be classified into three
groups [Walter et al., 2007]:
• Feedstocks rich on sugar (sugar-beet, sugarcane and molasses)

• Starches (cassava, cereals, potatoes)
• Cellulosic material (e.g. wood, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and even water materials, in general)
Ethanol can be blended with gasoline to be used as a transportation fuel, which allowed the trading and
supply chain of ethanol to be well developed. It is expected that ethanol will continue to be a significant
blending component for biofuels [Commission, 2005].
2014.TEL.7893
2.2.2. B IODIESEL
Biodiesel has the largest share of liquid biofuel in Europe and is made by the esterification of fatty acids
produced from vegetable oils, which makes it a sensitive biofuel, as the future traded volumes will be influ-
enced by overall availability and sustainability of the feedstock [Wu, 2012], [Commission, 2005]. A benefit of
biodiesel is that practically all diesel engines can run on biodiesel or blends of biodiesel.
2.2.3. P YROLYSIS OIL

Pyrolysis oil, also known as bio-oil or biocrude, can be used as a substitute of, for example, heavy fuel oil and
is derived from plant material, like agricultural waste and forest waste. Pyrolysis oil can be stored, pumped
and transported like petroleum products and can be combusted directly in boilers, gas turbines and slow to
medium speed diesels for heat and power. Pyrolysis oil is an acidic liquid with a pH of 2.2 - 3.0 compared to
diesel which has a pH of 5. It is combustible but not flammable (at extremely high temperatures), ignites and
burns readily when properly atomized, and once ignited burns with a stable, self-sustaining flame. Pyrolysis
oil is a stable but not a homogeneous liquid, which will eventually precipitate into a viscous bottom layer if
left standing for months, but it can be stirred back into the bulk with slow-speed agitation. Pyrolysis oil has
an advantage over liquid fossil fuels, when a ship sinks or otherwise causes a spill. Petroleum will spread of
the water in a thin layer and has major environmental consequences, where pyrolysis oil separates into a very
heavy organic fraction that sinks and the other part is very aqueous and bio-degradable and will be diluted
[Bradley, 2006].
2.2.4. P HYSICAL PROPERTIES OF LIQUID BIOMASS

The physical properties of the selected liquid biomass, ethanol, biodiesel and pyrolysis oil are compared to
their fossil fuel equivalents in Table 2.2. From the table, it can be obtained that the density and viscosity
are similar for the liquid equivalents, which are the most important design factors for handling and storage
equipment.
Table 2.2: Physical properties of the selected liquid biomass compared to their fossil fuel equivalents [Isidoro, 2014], [Wu, 2012]
Material Ethanol Gasoline Biodiesel Diesel oil Pyrolysis oil Heavy fuel oil
Density [kg/m 3 ] 790 - 810 720 - 760 860 - 900 850 1110 - 1300 1010
Water content [%] 0.3 - 1.0 N/A 0.05 N/A 15 - 30 0.5
Pour point [°C] ≤ 40 - 30 -15 - 10 -4 -36 - -9 30
Cloud point [°C] N/A -22 -3 - 12 -15 - 5 N/A -16
Kinematic viscos- 1.4 0.5 1.9 - 6.0 3.1 10 - 220 700
ity [mm2 /s]
Flash point [°C] 13 N/A 150 85 40 - 70 ≥ 60
2.3. B IOMASS STANDARDS

When designing solid or liquid biomass equipment, it needs to be done according to standards. In an inter-
view with the institute for standardization in the Netherlands (NEN), Dakhorst (2014) states that, according
to him, there are no any specific standards for biomass handling equipment yet [Dakhorst]. However, the
different kinds of solid and liquid types of biomass do have standards. In this section a selection of those EU
standards currently used and in development are succinctly described.
2.3.1. QUALITY
The quality standards are important for designing the handling equipment. This is because of the fact that if
for example a wood pellet has a certain strength, the pile height in the storage equipment can be calculated,
which prevents fines and dust forming.
To control the quality of the solid and liquid biomass, the committee ISO/TC 238 (Solid biofuels)[ISO/ TC 238,
2014] and the committee CEN/ TC 335 (Solid biofuels)[CEN, 2014] have standards (published and in devel-
opment) for solid biofuels to determine their properties (e.g. bulk density and mechanical durability). In the
standard EN 15210-1, a standardized method is described to measure pellet durability [Stelte, 2012]. ISO/TC
238 is the ISO committee that since 2007 is engaged with the standardization of terminology, specifications
and classes, quality assurance, sampling and sample preparation and test methods in the field of raw and
2.3. B IOMASS STANDARDS 11
processed materials originating from forestry to be used as a source for solid biofuels. CEN/TC 335 is the
technical committee from CEN developing the draft standard to describe all forms of solid biofuels within
Europe, including wood chips, wood pellets and briquettes, logs, sawdust and straw bales. Obernberger and
Thek [2010] made a table (2.1) and Alakangas [2009] made a list of these EN standards for solid biofuels (pub-
lished and under preparation) under the committee TC335 from CEN, but all these standards will finally be
replaced by ISO standards, see Figure 2.8. Here is ENplus a quality label for the whole pellet supply chain.
Figure 2.8: Overview on existing and future systems for wood pellet quality specification [Hiegl et al., 2009]
For the part of liquid biofuels, the committee CEN/TC 19 writes standards for gaseous and liquid fuels, lu-
bricants and related products of petroleum, synthetic and biological origin. The standards include the fossil-
based and naturally occurring materials as well as the products originated from processing of these materials.
The standards include those for characterizing the quality of the fuel, for quantity measurement and for op-
erational procedures (a quality monitoring system for fuels or guidance for good housekeeping in the logistic
chain) [Fuels et al., 2014]. ISO/TC 28 [ISO/ TC 28, 2014] is the committee that looks after the standardiza-
tion of terminology, classification, specifications, methods of sampling, measurement, analysis and testing
for petroleum, petroleum products, petroleum based lubricants and hydraulic fluids, non-petroleum based
liquid fuels and non-petroleum based lubricants and hydraulic fluids.
2.3.2. S AFETY
One of the major focus points of companies is safety. The PGS (Publicatiereeks Gevaarlijke stoffen) [PGS,
2014] is a Dutch guide for companies that produce, transport, store or use dangerous goods, and for authori-
ties responsible for overseeing these companies and licensing. According to Dakhorst, there are 4 PGS’s that
are related to the subject of this literature study;
• PGS 15: Storage of packaged dangerous substances - Guideline for storage and temporary storage re-
lated to fire safety, occupational safety and environmental safety
• PGS 28: Liquid fuels - underground tank installations and delivery installations
• PGS 29: Guideline for above ground storage of flammable liquids in vertical cylindrical tanks
• PGS 30: Liquid fuels - above ground tank installations and delivery installations
Next to these Dutch guidelines, the ISO/TC 238 ”Solid biofuels” [ISO/ TC 238, 2014] is currently busy, on an
international and industrial level, with the following standards (under draft) for the storage and processing of
solid biomass;
• ISO 20024-1: Solid biofuels - Safety of solid biofuel pellets - Safe handling and storage in commercial
and industrial applications – Part 1: General
• ISO 20024-2: Solid biofuels - Safety of solid biofuel pellets - Safe handling and storage in commercial
and industrial applications – Part 2: Detection, suppression and management of fire and explosion
The Maritime Safety Conventions the International Maritime Organization (IMO) [IMO, 2014] have devel-
oped safety regulations for the transport of dangerous goods and the International Code for the Construction
and Equipment of Ships carrying Dangerous Chemicals in Bulk (IBC Code) provides an international stan-
dard for the safe carriage by sea of dangerous and noxious liquid chemicals in bulk [Bradley et al., 2009].
These regulations and standard are applicable for the liquid biomass handling equipment, but are not spe-
cial developed for the in scope biomass.
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2.3.3. S TANDARDS FOCUS

At the current moment the published and under draft standards for solid and liquid biofuels are mainly fo-
cused on the quality of the biomass. Only the safety-aspect of the design of handling equipment is under
draft. There are of course general standards regarding the design and construction of handling equipment,
but at this moment there are no standards for specific biomass handling equipment to the knowledge of the
author.
2.4. I NTERACTION OF THE DRY BIOMASS WITH THE HANDLING EQUIPMENT

According to Stelte (2012) mechanical forces cause particle degradation of the pellets. These mechanical
forces can occur during all of the steps in the supply chain, creating fines and dust [Stelte, 2012]. Due to
the lack of information, animal feed pellets were used as comparison to wood and torrefied pellets. Pellet
abrasion and dust formation takes place along the whole supply chain of the pellets from pellet mill to the
customer, resulting in a significant part of 10 - 20% of fines and dust [European pellet Council, 2014]. Al-
though there are high quality standards (i.e. EN 14961-1 [Alakangas, 2009]) ensuring that pellet producers
produce pellets with a high strength and abrasion resistance, this problem can not be eliminated completely.
Especially pellets used in large scale applications such as heat and power plants are usually not following
those standards. In those cases the quality standards are often agreed directly between the pellet producer
and the large scale consumer. In this section several factors that damage pellets are discussed. These type
of factors are caused by handling equipment. To design equipment that does not damage the biomass, one
first need to know what types of factors exist. Equation 2.1 determines the amount of pellet damage or pellet
degradation during the transportation of these pellets [Stelte, 2012];
Pellet degradation = Number of impacts × Impact force (2.1)
During the transportation of the pellets there are three handling forms that causes the damage of pellets and
by that creating fines and dust;
• Drop height (i.e., filling and discharge transport vehicles)

• Elasticity of the impact surface
• Number of times the pellets are transferred
Pellets are exposed to high mechanical loads in large scale dry bulk terminals. For example when pellets are
loaded into an ocean vessel or into a large pellet silo with a high drop height (up to 25m and more). The
higher the drop height, the larger the impact force on the pellet. During this loading, pellets are dropped on
top of each other, where the pellets at the bottom of the vessel/ silo experience a high weight load, that can
damage the pellet. To prevent the formation of fines and dust, handling should be as gentle as possible. The
more handling steps, the bigger the damage to the pellet [Stelte, 2012].
Effectiveness of a densification process can be determined by testing the strength and durability of the den-
sified products to create a strong and durable bonding in densified products such as pellets and briquettes
[Kaliyan and Morey, 2009]. These tests can indicate the maximum force/stress that the densified products
can withstand, and the amount of fines produced during handling, transportation, and storage. The amount
of fines is one of the important quality factors in the densified products and to avoid these fines, densified
products must withstand the rigors of handling and transportation. The forces that cause this pellet damage
can be divided into three general classes:
• Compression forces result in a crushing action

• Impact forces result in shattering both on the surface of the pellet and along any natural cleavage planes
of the pellet
• Shearing forces result in abrasion of pellet edges and surfaces
Testing the densified products (e.g. pellets) to estimate the amount of damage or fines that could be observed
at the point of particle degradation, would help optimize to produce high quality densified products [Kaliyan
and Morey, 2009]. The resistance of a pellets depends on the physical forces that bond the particles together,
which is further explained in the following paragraphs. Kaliyan and Morey [2009] describes several factors
that affect the resistance of a pellet, from the effect of feed constituents, feed moisture content till the ef-
fect of post-production conditions and the acceptance levels. These factors and acceptance levels will not
be further described, because it is beyond the purpose of this literature study. Furthermore there are more
2.4. I NTERACTION OF THE DRY BIOMASS WITH THE HANDLING EQUIPMENT 13
causative factors affecting pellet quality, which is also beyond the scope of this research, but can be found
in table 1 of Thomas and van der Poel [1996]. Procedures that are used for measuring the particle degrada-
tion are compressive resistance, impact resistance, water resistance and durability [Kaliyan and Morey, 2009].
In the next sections several tests are described, which can be used to determine the compressive resistance,
impact resistance, water resistance and durability of a pellet. Kaliyan and Morey [2009] state that there is a
need to develop standards on the minimum acceptance levels for pellets for these tests and discuss guide-
lines for developing such standards. No statements have been found on which of the tests is considered the
best or the most frequently used.
C OMPRESSIVE RESISTANCE
During handling, pellets will endure multiple compressive forces, like the self-weight in storage, when grabbed
with a grab or the compression in a screw conveyor. The lateral pressure in tower silo’s and deep bins due to
compressible biomass can be calculated with the lateral pressure formula of Williams et al. [2008].
The compressive resistance is defined as the maximum crushing load that a pellet/ briquette can withstand
before cracking or breaking and is determined by a diametrical compression test, where an increasing load
is applied at a constant rate on a pellet/ briquette until it cracks or breaks. This load at fracture is read off a
recorded stress-strain curve, which is the compressive resistance and reported as force or stress [Kaliyan and
Morey, 2009]. This compressive resistance test is a simulation of pellets on top of each other during storage
and in a screw conveyor. The following tests are been used to measure the compressive resistance of the
densified products [Behnke, 1994], [Franke and Rey, 2006], [Thomas and van der Poel, 1996], [Tabil, 1996];
- Kahl tester - Tablet hardness tester

- Stokes tester - Universal testing machine (Instron)
- Schleuniger tester - Kramer shear strength tester
Franke and Rey [2006], Thomas and van der Poel [1996], Tabil [1996] and several other researchers reported
that it is difficult to obtain repeatability of the results from the compressive resistance tests for the same qual-
ity of pellets. Furthermore, no extra literature is found on the difference between the compressive resistance
tests and their results.
I MPACT RESISTANCE
The forces present during loading or unloading (storage or drops) can be simulated with the impact resistance
test. The impact resistance test can be noted as the impact resistance index (IRI), which can be calculated
as described by Richards [1990]. This is the percentage of the initial weight retained after dropping. The
acceptance criterion for the impact resistance is defined differently by researchers (e.g. a IRI of 50 by Richards
[1990], remaining intact after a drop of 1 and 5 ft. by Raghavan and Conkle (1991)). Several researchers
used drop resistance tests to determine the ”strength” of biomass pellets and briquettes [Sah et al. (1980)],
[Khankari et al. (1989)],[Shrivastave et al. (1989)],[Al-Widyan and Al-Jalil (2001)].
WATER RESISTANCE
There are multiple water resistance tests. Lindley and Vossoughi [1989] for example measured the water resis-
tance as the percentage of water absorbed by a briquette when immersed in water. Several other researchers
looked at the effect of high relative humidity environment on the strength and durability of the pellets [Tabil,
1996] [Fasina and Sokhansanj, 1996]. With time as the moisture content of the pellets increased to different
values, the compressive resistance and durability of the pellets were measured. Concluding, dry handling of
pellets is highly recommended.
D URABILITY
A high durability (i.e., abrasive resistance) means high quality pellets obtained from the tumbling can method
(unless indicated otherwise). The procedures used for measuring the durability are the tumbling can method,
Holmen tester and Ligno tester [Kaliyan and Morey, 2009]. The Holmen test [Franke and Rey, 2006] and Ligno
test [Winowiski, 1998] are used to simulate the forces present on the pellets during pneumatic conveyance.
The Tumbler Can Method determines the mechanical durability of wood pellets, which simulates the im-
pact forces that pellets experience during transportation and shearing of pellets over each other and over the
2014.TEL.7893
wall of the tumbling can [Stelte, 2012]. It is used to estimate the pellet quality in terms of pellet durability
index (PDI) and is calculated as the ratio of weight after tumbling over the weight before tumbling, multiplied
by 100 [Division and Committee, 1996].
Pellets are sometimes conveyed or transported by pneumatic pumps. The latter one might do severe damage
to the pellets when the pressure (velocity of the pellets) is to high and if there are sharp turns in the trans-
port pipe or potential impact sites for the pellets. This pneumatic handling of the pellets is simulated with
the Holmen durability tester, where pneumatically circulates a sample of pellets through a square conduit of
pipe or tubing with right-angled bends, and the pellets are impacted repeatedly on hard surfaces [Franke and
Rey, 2006], [Thomas and van der Poel, 1996].
The Ligno tester is the fastest durability test (30s) and uses air to rapidly circulates 100g of pellets around a
perforated inverted square pyramid chamber. The forced air is here the destructive force (60 mbar pressure)
and the percentage of fines that pass through a sieve is taken as the measure of durability [Kaliyan and Morey,
2009]. An Austrian standard (ÖNORM M 7135) describes that the sum of the weight of wood pellet fines that
pass through a 3.15-mm sieve after the Ligno durability test should be less than 2.3%. Similar standards have
been developed in Sweden on pellet/briquette durability [Obernberger and Thek, 2004].
Kaliyan and Morey [2009] concludes, based on results of some commercial feed pellets the following:
• The Ligno tester is more destructive than the tumbling can (with two 3⁄4 -in. hexagonal nuts) method.
• The Ligno tester nearly matches the destructive force of the Holmen tester.
• The Ligno tester showed more sensitivity to factors that influence pellet durability than other durability
testing method.
• The durability values obtained from the Holmen tester for a cycle time of 30 s were approximately equal
to the durability values obtained from the tumbling can method with a cycle time of 10 min.
• No clear correlation could be observed between the durability values obtained by the tumbling can
method and the Ligno tester.
• The tumbling can method produced the most repeatable and reproducible durability results than the
Ligno tester.
It is advised by Kaliyan and Morey [2009] not to compare the durability values from the Ligno tester, tumbling
can method and the Holmen tester and by that no advise could be made on which method is best. Next to
these test, several other test can be found in literature to measure the durability of the densified material, like
the Ro-Tap sieve shaker for coal pellets (simulating mild handling and vibration during transport), the Stein
breakage tester and the Dural tester for alfalfa pellets [Kaliyan and Morey, 2009]. Pellet quality standards
including durability requirements are described by the United States Pellet Fuel Institute (PFI)[Wilson, 2010].
D OMINANT ( PELLET ) PARTICLE DEGRADATION FACTOR

It is useful to know which of the forces (compression force, impact force and shear force) is the most dominant
one in terms of handling equipment design-focus, however no literature have been found on this subject.
Dust is the largest problem regarding particle degradation during handling, especially when pellets are trans-
ferred at transfer points [Stelte, 2012] [Khan et al., 2011]. At transfer points the impact force is the most dom-
inant force present and it can be concluded that the impact force is the most dominant factor that causes
pellet particle degradation.
From the remaining two forces it is assumed that the compression force is the least dominant force, because
when looking again at the particle degradation problems, most problems occur when pellets are moving
[Stelte, 2012] [Khan et al., 2011]. Biomass handling problems are described in more detail in chapter 4. The
compression force caused by the own weight of the pellets when the pellets are motionless is not mentioned
as a problem, where the shear force is a problem when the pellets are discharged from a silo for example. The
following can be concluded regarding the dominant (pellet) particle degradation factors:
Impact force > Shear force > Compression force

Furthermore only information have been found on pellets resistance, but no information was found on wood
chips (who are far less sensitive for deformation).
The goal of this chapter is to gain knowledge concerning biomass and biomass handling equipment. The
translation of the difference in biomass handling equipment in comparison to the fossil fuel industry is pre-
sented in the next chapter.
3
C URRENT B IOMASS H ANDLING E QUIPMENT
What kind of solid and liquid biomass handling equipment is currently being used in industry is discussed in
this chapter in the scope of the port handling purposes. In section 3.1 the solid biomass handling equipment
is presented and in section 3.2 the liquid biomass handling equipment in the different handling stages. Due to
a the limited amount of literature on biomass handling equipment, additional information has been found
by visiting the websites of, conducting interviews and e-mail correspondences with the producers of bulk
material handling equipment.
3.1. S OLID B ULK E QUIPMENT

There are four types of solid bulk handling functions; transportation, transfer, transshipment, and storage
[Lodewijks and Schott, 2013], see Figure 3.1.
Transshipment:
Transition from transport equipment to storage equipment or
vice versa. The velocity of the material changes to or from zero.
Transportation:
Motion in or through equipment, where the material velocity is
often constant.
Transfer:
Transition from one piece of equipment to another. The veloc-
Figure 3.1: Handling functions of solid bulk
ity of the material is often not constant.
equipment [Lodewijks and Schott, 2013]
Storage:
Stay in storage equipment. The material velocity is zero.
In Figure 3.2[Drax Group plc, 2013] the different handling stages of solid bulk material is illustrated and in the
section 3.1.1 up to section 3.1.5, the currently used solid handling equipment are listed under these different
stages. The in scope stages are the transshipment from the delivering transport equipment to the storage
location by transfer and transportation equipment. After storage the material is reclaimed and loaded onto
other transport equipment, that will deliver on their turn the solid biomass material to, for example, a power
plant. Section 3.1.7 gives an overview of the current solid biomass handling equipment.
Figure 3.2: Example of a solid bulk material handling chain [Drax Group plc, 2013]

16 3. C URRENT B IOMASS H ANDLING E QUIPMENT
Information about handling equipment especially for torrefied pellets could not been found by the author,
this is probably because torrefied pellets are being transported in small numbers and as a result investments
for dedicated biomass handling equipment are not yet been made. Existing infrastructure is being used,
because torrefied pellets can be handled like coal [Solvay Biomass Energy, 2014] [Blanch, 2013].
3.1.1. T RANSSHIPMENT
The first step when handling the solid biomass at a port terminal is to transship the solid biomass from the
delivering transportation vessel, which can be a ship/barge, truck or train. This can be done via multiple
options, a grab, vertical conveyor, pneumatic systems, bucket elevators or a self unloader. These different
options are discussed in the following paragraphs.
G RABS
In this section a selection of grabs are discussed and illustrated. In the investigation carried out by the author
no specific type of grabs are found for solid biomass, but already existing grab types that also are suited for
solid biomass.
Figure 3.4: Grab of Peiner Smag Figure 3.5: Grab of Blug Figure 3.6: Grab of Verstegen
Figure 3.3: Grab of Nemag
[Dodds-Ely, 2014] Credeblug [Dodds-Ely, 2014]
When using a grab to unload the solid biomass one of the things that requires extra attention is the reduction
of (wood) pellet degradation. The company Nemag [Stoutjesdijk, 2014] states that, by experience, breaking
is reduced by 50% when using a closed clam-shell grab for wood pellets instead of pneumatic, continuous
unloading devices. The closed clam-shell design, see Figure 3.3, reduces dust emission and breaking. Also
the companies Peiner Smag and Blug Credeblug [Dodds-Ely, 2014] choose the closed clam-shell design as
their grab for handling of waste and renewable raw materials, see Figure 3.4 .
Because of the fact that wood chips require three times the storage space of wood pellets (for the same energy
content), the grab design for wood chips is different according to the company Verstegen [Verstegen, 2014],
who chooses an orange peel grab, see Figure 3.6, which has a high capacity of 60m3 . This grab is also fully
enclosed to minimize the material spillage.
P NEUMATIC SYSTEMS
A widely discussed pneumatic transshipment system is the vacuum unloader, which is mainly used for ships,
see Figure 3.7. Janzé states that pneumatic ship unloaders needs to be avoided where possible, because it
causes a relatively large particle degradation [Janzé, 2010]. Ship vacuum unloaders can reach a high through-
put with it’s flexible design. One can calculate the volumetric capacity with formulas from Williams (2008)
[Williams et al., 2008].
Figure 3.7: A ship vacuum unloader of Nautic Expo

3.1. S OLID B ULK E QUIPMENT 17
S ELF UNLOADERS
Every transportation vehicle has it’s own type of self unloaders, from ships to trucks. No information is found
on biomass rail unloaders. Pneumatic ship with sandwich unloaders (Figure 3.8) are, according to Janzé,
particularly hard on wood pellets and should be avoided, because again, it causes a relatively large particle
degradation [Janzé, 2010]. Clam-shell bucket unloaders or screw unloaders also cause pellet damage. Wood
pellets flow well and are conducive to being transported in self-unloading ships which utilize special-built
holds with live-bottom belt feeders that discharge into a sandwich-belt type of ship unloader that elevates
the pellets up and out of the ship.
Figure 3.8: An intersection of a sandwich

belt conveyor [Lodewijks and Schott, Figure 3.9: Truck load tipped [Saxlund, Figure 3.10: Tipped truck [Saxlund,
2013] 2014] 2014]
Truck unloading can be done in two ways; the truck tips it’s load into a reception bunker or the whole truck is
tipped, see Figure 3.10 [Brand, 2014] and Figure 3.9 [Saxlund, 2014]. In the case of the truck, that tips it’s load,
a special truck is needed, but it has the advantages that it has a small foot print, full enclosed for dust control,
compact and low in power consumption. The benefits, in the case where the whole truck is tipped, are that
because of a higher dump angle, the dumping speed/ throughput is increased and reduce the need to bump
the deck (when the load is stuck).
3.1.2. T RANSPORTATION & T RANSFER

When the dry bulk is received, it needs to be transported to a storage area. This can be done by conveying
equipment. Among the conveyors, the belt-, pouch- & pipe conveyors are discussed and among the equiva-
lent conveyors the bucket elevator and the screw conveyors. The transfer from one conveyor to another one
can be done through transfer points. In the next sections these conveyors and transfer points are discussed
and illustrated.
B ELT CONVEYORS
Over large distances, belt conveyors are more cost effective for conveying than for example screw conveyors,
because of their high throughput, relatively low power required for transport (compared to screw conveyors),
can be totally enclosed, which improves dust control (compared to open belt conveyors) and can be used
for wood chips (Figure 3.11), torrefied- and wood pellets. Disadvantages are that belt conveyor systems are
expensive to install and that intermediate discharges are problematic [Williams et al., 2008]. When choosing
a belt conveyor for (wood) pellets, systems that encourage impacts or rubbing, wedging or grinding actions
need to be avoided, because this kind of conveying systems can cause damage to the wood pellets. It is im-
portant to minimize the conveyor transfers points in order to minimize the impact points and the conveyors
should be equipped with heat, smoke and flame sensors, sprinklers and fire suppression equipment [Janzé,
2010]. An example of a pellet belt conveyor is the biomass handling belt conveyor from the George Robson &
Co Project in Sheffield (Figure 3.12). It transfers 2800 tonnes of biomass pellets per hour and covers a length
of 3500m with a height of 80m [Dodds-Ely, 2014].
Figure 3.11: An enclosed belt conveyor Figure 3.12: Belt conveyor transporting Figure 3.13: The airglide conveyor of
transporting wood chips wood pellets Robson
2014.TEL.7893
The company Robson and FLSmidth have developed a type of belt conveyor that is very suited for the trans-
portation of dry biomass, an airglide/ air supported belt conveyor, see Figure 3.13. Instead of carrying idlers,
it is supported by a cushion of air with a capacity of 500 TPH and a maximum length of 200m. Self-adhesive
sealing tape between the joints of each casing section is sealed to ensure continuity of the air plenum without
leaks. The conveyor has a weatherproof design, which will keep the product safe and can be used for explo-
sive atmospheres and flammable dusts [Robson and Belt, 2014].
Formulas for calculating the required design variables, like capacity and power to drive, can be found in the
report of Williams (2008) [Williams et al., 2008] and Lodewijks (2013) [Lodewijks, 2013].
P OUCH - & PIPE CONVEYORS

Different from the ”normal” belt conveyor (section 3.1.2), the pouch conveyor does not need a cover to pro-
tect the pellets or wood chips against for example wind, spillage, contamination, rain, theft and improves
dust control. In Figure 3.15 the differences between a toughed(/ belt)-, (pocket-,) pouch- and pipe conveyors
can been seen for inclination degrees, capacity and lump size. The conclusions that can be made is that wood
chips can not be transported by a pouch belt, because the lump size of a wood chip is ▷75mm, but the pouch
belt is the second best concerning the highest incline.
According to Janzé [2010] a pipe conveyor (Figure 3.16), which he calls a tubular belt conveyor, is an ideal
transport equipment for handling biomass, because it can accommodate both vertical and horizontal curves
and therefore minimize the number of transport points. Wu [2012] states on the other hand that the pipe
conveyor is not applicable for a large-scale biomass bulk terminal, because it is more costly, because of extra
coverage of the 10 meters- distances required for opening and closing the pipe, and in addition, a pipe con-
veyor cannot cope with a ship unloader and its corresponding bunker that move along the quay.
Just like the pouch conveyor, a pipe conveyor is also totally enclosed and protects the pellets against wind
losses, spillage, contamination, rain, theft and improves dust control. The Ferrybridge Power station in the
United Kingdom for example, uses these pipe conveyors over a distance of 500m to transport the biomass
wood pellets to a storage silo [Mills, 2014].
5
Figure 3.15: Differences in conveyor
Figure 3.14: Pouch conveyor specifics [Lodewijks, 2013] Figure 3.16: Pipe conveyor
B UCKET ELEVATORS
Bucket elevators are machines that uses individual buckets to lift material vertical from an inlet and dis-
charges the buckets, Figure 3.17 at the top into a discharge chute. Bucket elevators have the ability to handle
all kind materials. Thereby the bucket elevator is suitable for handling solid biomass and can be made more
suited for handling the selected biomass. Advantages of a bucket elevator is that is requires minimum factory
space, has a low power consumption (can just like the volumetric capacity be calculated with formula’s from
Williams et al. [2008]), tolerable in maintenance and can be covered for dust control [Saxlund, 2014].
Figure 3.17: Bucket conveyor Figure 3.18: Screw conveyor

S CREW CONVEYOR
Screw conveyors are commonly used in the handling of homogeneous fuels under the 50 mm, like wood-
and torrefied pellets, from stores to chambers, but wood chips can also been handled by a (larger) screw
conveyor. Screw conveyors have the advantages, that they are cheap, flexible, a closed transport system and
can cover a distance up to 45m, but they require a high power supply (compared to belt conveyors) [García
Fernández et al., 2013]. Furthermore, impacts or rubbing, wedging or grinding actions needs be avoid that
can damage the pellets, including chain conveyors and screw conveyor feeder/ extractors [Janzé, 2010]. The
company Robson designs and construct specialized screw conveyors with a maximum length of 12.5m for
solid biomass for the use in conveying, mixing feeding or elevating and with a maximum capacity of 500TPH
[Robson and Belt, 2014]. In the report of Williams et al. [2008] one can find several formula’s to calculate the
capacity and power of a screw conveyor.
T RANSFER STATION
When handling wood pellets the number of transfer points must be as little as possible to minimize the im-
pact points and by that particle degradation and dust emission. A gentle transfer design can avoid knocking
dust out of the flow, Figure 3.19, and can reduce particle degradation [Berry, 2014]. Spiral or cascade load-
ing chutes are preferred, because pellets falling from a great height in a silo will break [Janzé, 2010]. Fans
can create a negative pressure that directs dust into the hopper and not in the surrounding area (Figure 3.20)
[Obernberger and Thek, 2010]. An other solution that is designed to deal with the dust emission is the Pow-
erCore CP from Donaldson, Figure 3.21. This kind of transfer station filtrates the dust up to 70 % from the
material at a flow rate of 23.000 m3 /h [Dodds-Ely, 2014].
Figure 3.21: Filtration technology

Figure 3.19: Hood & Spoon design Figure 3.20: Receiving hopper equipped with fans from PowerCore
3.1.3. S TORAGE
According to Williams et al. [2008] their are 5 solid dry bulk storage types; silo’s, bunkers, bins, flat storage and
dome storage. In the following paragraphs these types are defined and illustrated. Closed storage is needed,
because in the case of wood pellets, high moisture contents can result in dangerous conditions, which are
discussed in section 4.1 and the closed storage prevents dust from spreading. Furthermore the storage needs
to be large due to seasonal fluctuations of energy demand [Stelte, 2012]. For example:
The monthly electricity consumption in the Netherlands in 2013 is presented in Table 3.1. Here, it is visible
that the largest fluctuation of electricity demand is between March and April with 4 petajoule. In 2013 5% of
the total electricity consumption comes from biomass [Simons, 2014]. The average energy content of wood
pellets is 18 GJ/ tonnes and the average bulk density of wood pellets is 500 kg /m 3 (Table 2.1). With these
numbers the production difference can be calculated in joules, tonnes and volume in the following equations:
• Joules: 4 × 1015 J × 5% = 2 × 1014 joule
• Tonnes: 2 × 1014 J ÷ 18 × 109 GJ/ tonnes = 11.111 tonnes
• Volume: 11.111 tonnes × 1000kg/tonnes ÷ 500kg/m 3 = 20.000m 3
Table 3.1: Electricity consumption per month in the Netherlands in 2013 [CBS, 2015]
Month J F M A M J J A S O N D
Consumption [PJ] 39 37 37 33 32 33 34 34 33 36 38 39
It can be said that the following storage types are not specially designed for the biomass itself, but special
designed storage has not been found in literature by the author.
2014.TEL.7893
S ILO ’ S ( VERTICAL )
The general definition of a silo is a structure where the height is bigger than the diameter and the rupture
plane of the material intersects the wall. In the newer pellet storage silo’s, the diameter is larger compared to
their height. The silo’s loading- and unloading systems are very economical and efficient and mostly used at
power plants. The construction can be made from concrete or steel, where the concrete silos are constructed
using jump-form or slip-form construction methods and the steel silos are usually bolted or welded smooth
wall steel or corrugated steel side wall silos. Corrugated metal and dark colours needs to be avoid for they
can increase the heat absorption and lower heat transfer. The expensive concrete storage are desirable for
high throughput due to its unmatched durability, where the steel silo’s are more economical but not quite as
durable. The pellet silo’s have in general two types, a tapered bottom (emptied by gravity, Figure 3.22) and
a flat bottom (emptied using a circulating auger for center feed, Figure 3.23), where the cheaper flat bottom
requires more maintenance and time to empty [Stelte, 2012] [Williams et al., 2008].
Figure 3.22: Example of a silo with a tapered bottom Figure 3.23: Example of a silo with a flat bottom
B UNKERS
Bunkers are designed as shallow storage structures and are retaining wall style structures. Because of the fact
that the construction is relatively cheap, since it can be done using precast segments, like timer steel or cast,
the cost to load or unload the system is high [Williams et al., 2008].
B INS
Bins are very typical as part of a receiving or handling system and are flatter storage structures, which are
often constructed from steel, but sometimes it can be constructed from concrete [Williams et al., 2008].
F LAT STORAGE
The flat storage buildings (i.e. A-frames, Figure 3.24) are an economical efficient design and consists of high
bunker style walls with a metal building or hoop type structure over the top of retaining walls. Due to the
shape, the loading of the flat storage is very automated, but unloading is fairly labour intensive and by that
expensive. The volume for this large storage type can range from 15.000 - 100.000 m3 , where the pellets are
dropped down by a front loader or a conveyor onto the floor forming a pile. Emptying is done mostly by
a front loader either into a feed system for a boiler (power plant site) or onto trucks, vessels or rail cars for
further transportation [Stelte, 2012] [Williams et al., 2008].
Figure 3.24: Example of a A-frame storage Figure 3.25: Drax storage domes
D OME STORAGE
For high capacity storage a costly dome storage can be used, which are usually constructed using concrete
construction methods. A dome storage structure needs an reclaiming system to reclaim the stored material
[Williams et al., 2008]. An example of a storage dome is the George Robson & Co project for Drax. In Fig-
ure 3.25 one can see these four storage dome of concrete, which can store 75.000 tonnes of biomass [Dodds-
Ely, 2014]
3.1.4. R ECLAIMING SYSTEMS

After storage the solid biomass needs to be reclaimed for further transport to another location within the
port (preferred with the first-in, first-out principle), like the loadout system [Janzé, 2010]. A requirement
of the reclaiming system is that it should be adequate for enclosed storage and enclosed transport systems.
Wu [2012] has listed several types of reclaimers (also summed below) that can be used for enclosed storage
practices, but these reclaiming systems are not specially designed for the selected biomass. In this section
various types of reclaiming system are discussed.
Reclaimers: Stacker-reclaimers:
Bridge type bucket Circular Portal Scraper stacker-reclaimers
Screw reclaimers Circular Bridge-Type Scraper stacker-reclaimers
Wheel reclaimers Side Boom stacker-reclaimers
Drum-type reclaimers
Bridge-type scraper reclaimers
Portal scraper reclaimers
Semi-portal scraper reclaimers
Side boom scraper reclaimers
Gravity reclaim
There are several types of reclaimers that are designed (or adjusted) to handle biomass. In this section the
walking floor-reclaimers, flat bottom silo systems, screw reclaimers, chain conveyors, hoppers and feeders
are discussed.
WALKING FLOOR- RECLAIMERS

The push floor from Saxlund [Saxlund, 2014] is designed for difficult bulk solids, like wood chips and wood(-
and torrefied) pellets and used for square and rectangular bunkers or silo’s (Figure 3.26). The hydraulic cylin-
ders, attached at one side of the push floor, move a series of parallel pusher frames back and forth and by
that displace a layer of material from the storage onto a transport equipment. This system has three basic
configurations;
• To push material to one end of the bunker

• To pull material to one end of the bunker
• To push and pull material to the center of the bunker
Other advantages of this system is that it works on the first-in, first-out principle, low power use and mainte-
nance costs and can be placed in the economic flat bottom bunkers.
Figure 3.26: Saxlund Push floor

Figure 3.27: The Keith Walking Floor
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An other floor-type system is the Keith Walking Floor[Keith, 2014] and can reclaim wood chips and wood-
and torrefied pellets. According to Janzé [2010] the walking floor minimizes product damage, because it has
a gentle action. The structure of the walking floor is approximately the same as the push floor. It is made
of a series of hydraulic driven parallel floor slats and has four phases. In the first three phases every third
slat moves back together, so the friction of the load remaining on the two sets of slats keep the load from
moving(Figure 3.27). In the fourth phase all the slats move in unison and conveying the material.
F LAT BOTTOM SILO SYSTEMS

To discharge materials (e.g. wood chips) from a flat bottom silo, a back and forth going sliding frame driven
by powerful hydraulic cylinders from Saxlund[Saxlund, 2014] can be used. The sliding frame utilized a single
frame reciprocating across the bottom of the silo (Top of Figure 3.28) and recently a new twin element sliding
frame is designed, which can be used for larger silo designs (Bottom of Figure 3.28). This type of reclaimer
can break any bridges formed in the silo and promotes first-in, first-out bulk material flow into one or more
screw conveyors.
Figure 3.29: The Saxlund Hydraulic Rotor Discharger

Figure 3.28: Saxlund Sliding Frame
The hydraulic rotor discharger from Saxlund[Saxlund, 2014] can also be used to promote first-in, first-out
mass flow for non free-flowing and difficult to handle materials (e.g. wood chips) in flat bottom silos into a
for example metering screw(s) (Figure 3.29). When a bridge is detected in the silo, the rotor begins to turn in
the stored material and after half a minute, the rotor-arm begins to drive out cutting their way through the
material towards the silo wall and undermine any bridges causing collapse. After that the rotor-arm returns to
their rest position. The advantages of this hydraulic rotor discharger is that is needs minimum power, which
needs low forces, creates low wear and requires low maintenance.
S CREW R ECLAIMERS
There are two types of screw reclaimers/ tubefeeders; the linear- and circular screw reclaimer. Here a screw is
positioned at the bottom of the material pile to reclaim the material on a first-in, first-out base [Brand, 2014].
This type of reclaimer is mostly used for wood chips.
Figure 3.32: Linear tubefeeder by Jeffrey

Figure 3.30: Linear screw reclaimer by Jeffrey Figure 3.31: Tubefeeder by Jeffrey Rader Rader Brand
Rader Brand Brand
Figure 3.35: Working principle of a Saxlund

tubefeeder
Figure 3.33: Linear tubefeeder by Saxlund Figure 3.34: Circular tubefeeder by Saxlund
The linear screw reclaimer, illustrated in Figure 3.30, has the advantage that it automatically blends the ma-
terial and has variable input and output rates. This type of reclaimers and the tubefeeders (Figure 3.31 &
Figure 3.32) can be used in rectangular bunkers (Figure 3.33). A tubefeeder (Figure 3.35) consists of a screw
conveyor inside a protected rotating tube. The tube, which rotates in the opposite direction, has a regular
slot pattern of holes, which allows the material on the tube to fall on the screw conveyor and eliminates the
external static material pressure on the screw and deliver a uniform feed to the screw. This type of handling
is much gentler and consumes as little as 25% of the power needed for traditional exposed screw reclaimers
[Saxlund, 2014]. Further more, compared to the screw reclaimers, the wear on the mechanical parts is re-
duced, as the required starting torque and possible wood chips degradation reduces[Brand, 2014].
The circular tubefeeder can also be used as a rotating auger in a flat bottomed (large-diameter) silo(Figure 3.34),
where it works on the same principle as the linear tubefeeder.
C HAIN R ECLAIMER
A underpile chain reclaimer (based on gravity) can be used for all the selected (woody) solid biomass materi-
als and is very economical type of equipment, because it has high capacity capabilities and low maintenance
requirements [Brand, 2014] (Figure 3.36). A disadvantage of this type of reclaiming system is that it has the
smallest live-storage and tends to bridge [Janzé, 2010].
Figure 3.36: Chain reclaimer

by Jeffrey Radar Brand Figure 3.37: Kamengo feeder Figure 3.38: KOCH Feedex Reclaimer
H OPPER
An example of a gravity reclaiming system is the hopper. By placing a hopper (bottom) under the storage
facility, the power consumption and the mechanical system requirements are minimized. A disadvantage is
that due to the physical structure, the conical hopper reduces effective storage volume [Williams et al., 2008].
Hoppers can be equipped with a Kamengo feeder, a ”moving” hole feeder that goes back and forth (Fig-
ure 3.37). This stimulates mass flow and is also applicable for bins, silo’s, bulk cargo ships and barges [Ka-
mengo Technology Inc., 2013]. This combination avoids compaction and stagnation of the stored woody
biomass material and provides a reliable flow.
OTHER RECLAIMERS
An alternative fuel reclaimer is the KOCH Feedex reclaimer from FLSmidth, see Figure 3.38. This overhead
reclaiming system can be used in cylindrical or rectangular cross-section silo’s for the handling of materials
(e.g. wood chips). This (storage and reclaiming) system had the advantages of, eliminates bridging, ensures
a complete discharge, low energy consumption and easy to maintain and clean [FLSmidth, 2013].
3.1.5. L OADING SYSTEMS IN COMBINATION WITH TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

The last step in the port process is to load the product for further transportation. This loading can be into a
truck, train or ship/vessel/ barge.
2014.TEL.7893
T RUCK LOADING SYSTEMS

A truck will move typically 15 - 25 tons of pellets per load [Portz, 2014], but no specially designed trucks were
found for the selected biomass. Currently the following truck-types are being used for transporting wood
pellets and wood chips [Obernberger and Thek, 2010];
• European tank trucks with pneumatic feed

• North American ”stinger” trucks
• Dump trucks
• Standard trucks
• Semi trailer trucks with hydraulic unloading
Currently empty/ under-utilized containers are being used to transport some pellets as bulk in 20 and 40 foot
containers, with the benefit that the containers easily can be lifted on and off flatbed trucks (ocean vessels or
flat rail cars) [Obernberger and Thek, 2010].
A common way to load trucks is by a loading station, where a hopper is placed above a pavement. An ex-
ample of this loading station is the telescopic loading system, that is designed to load pellets into a truck
(cargo semi-trailers or tanker trucks). This continuous loading system has a ”mini-skirt” at the bottom of the
loader to avoid dust or leaks (Figure 3.39).
Figure 3.39: Telescopic loading

system Figure 3.40: High-troughput rail loadout systems
T RAIN LOADING SYSTEMS

The second way to transport is by rail. The rail loading stations are similar to the truck loading stations. In
Figure 3.40 two examples of high-throughput rail loadout systems are illustrated (both have (gravity) hopper
bases and guided with a type of pipeline). An other system is a stormajor feeder (Figure 3.41), that loads the
wood chips or pellets into the rail wagon by an covered conveyor with an incline [Williams et al., 2008] [Sam-
son, 2014a].
The currently only special designed biomass rail wagon known is the Drax rail wagon with a capacity of 116
m 3 (Figure 3.42). This capacity is almost 30% more than current trains, according to Drax and by that each
rail car can move 71.6 tons of pellets per load [DVV Media Group GmbH, 2013]. Further advantages of the rail
wagons is that they have an efficient load and unload system and have weather protection [group plc, 2013].
Figure 3.41: Loading rail wagons with the

Stormajor Figure 3.42: The biomass wagon of Drax Figure 3.43: NKM Noell floating crane
S HIP LOADING SYSTEMS

Wood pellets are more and more transported in large ocean going dry-bulk tankers, where they must be cov-
ered to be protected against water. Wood chips on the other side are transported in smaller ships, but the
pulp and paper industry has been shipping wood chips long distances from Australia and Brazil, suggesting
that longer distance travel is possible for energy use [Bradley et al., 2009].
Dry bulk carriers,a ship that carries dry unpacked goods, can be used to transport wood chips and pellets and
have mostly multiple holds, that are covered by hatches. The carriers can be divided into four main divisions;
Handysize (20.000-35.000 dwt), Handymax (35.000-50.000 dwt), Panamax (50.000-80.000 dwt) and Capesize
(100.000-300.000 dwt). In the transport of wood chips and pellets the Handysize and Handymax carriers are
mainly used, because of local shipping and small harbours. These two carriers are independent of shore-
based equipment, because they have usually their own equipment for loading and unloading [Bradley et al.,
2009].
There are two types of loading options, loading from the shore or loading from ship to ship by a floating
solution, like the NKM Noell floating crane (Figure 3.43). This type of crane requires no port infrastructure
and no port charges from the quayside [Dodds-Ely, 2014].
Loading from the shore can be done in several ways. One of the options is the choke spout, illustrated in
Figure 3.44. This choke spout, capable of moving 1200 metric tons/h helps against the dust when loading in
large volume. This loading device can also load storage facilities and is suitable for wood pellets and other
pelletized materials like torrefied pellets Obernberger and Thek [2010] [ClevelandCascadesLtd, 2014].
The stromajor boom feeders, Figure 3.45 can load a ship from a single integrated machine to 15m height
and a loading rate of 1500 tons/h [Samson, 2014a]. A variation on this design is the mobile ship loader, Fig-
ure 3.46, which has the benefit of complete mobility, universal application and can load every type of vessel
from barges to cape size. This loader has a capacity up to 2000 tons/h and both loaders can be used for wood
pellets and chips [Samson, 2014b].
Figure 3.44: Shiploader with Choke Spout

Figure 3.45: Boom feeder loading a ship Figure 3.46: A mobile shiploader in action
[ClevelandCascadesLtd, 2014]
[Samson, 2014b] [Samson, 2014a]
3.1.6. D IFFERENT SET- UP OF HANDLING EQUIPMENT

In the previous sections (specially designed) biomass handling equipment is discussed for the four types of
solid bulk handling functions (transportation, transfer, transshipment and storage). One does not necessar-
ily need to implement one specific piece of equipment for each of these four handling types. One piece of
equipment might also be used to full fill two or more handling functions. An example of such a design ap-
proach is found within the company European Bulk Services (EBS). This is a bulk-handling company that
among others handles wood pellets. Concerning the set-up of their handling operations a small interview
has been conducted. EBS unloads the wood pellets directly with grabs from the vessel to the bunker, so with
no intermediate transfer point with conveyor belts. Grabs are also used to reclaim the material in stead of
special reclaiming equipment (such as described in sections 3.1.1 and 3.1.4). This kind of set-up avoids cer-
tain (specific) handling equipment and certain handling functions can be combined.
There is quite an amount of literature on different types of set-ups of solid biomass handling operations/
biomass supply chain and the considerations for the optimum number of transshipment terminals (for exam-
ple the article of the Department of Mechanical Engineering (2006) [Department of Mechanical Engineering,
2006] and Rentizelas (2009) [Rentizelas et al., 2009] and the Integrated Biomass Supply Analysis and Logistics
model (IBSAL) helps improving operation layouts [Sokhansanj et al., 2006]).
2014.TEL.7893
Figure 3.47: Different types of solid biomass (port) handling set-ups [ProcessBarron, 2014]
3.1.7. S OLID BIOMASS HANDLING EQUIPMENT OVERVIEW

In this section a summation is made of all the special and not special designed handling equipment for solid
biomass and than especially for wood pellets, wood chips and torrefied pellets. This summation is visible in
Figure 3.48. In this overview the most common solid bulk handling equipment are presented.
Figure 3.48: Overview of solid biomass handling equipment

3.2. L IQUID B ULK E QUIPMENT 27
3.2. L IQUID B ULK E QUIPMENT

The handling functions for liquid bulk handling are quite comparative to the solid bulk handling functions.
In Figure 3.49 the functions, transshipment, transportation, storage and loading are illustrated in a liquid
port example. In the sections, 3.2.1 up to 3.2.4, the currently used liquid handling equipment are listed in
the different stages. The in scope stages are the transshipment from the delivering transport equipment to
the storage location by transportation equipment. After storage the material are loaded into other transport
equipment, that will deliver on their turn the liquid biomass material. At the end, an overview can be found
for the liquid biomass handling equipment in section 3.2.5.
Figure 3.49: Biomass example port liquid handling equipment scope [Drax Group plc, 2013]
On the subject liquid handling equipment limited amount of information is found in literature. Because
of this, information is also collected with an interview and e-mail correspondence with J.W. Bolk from the
company VTTI, that is specialized in handling different kinds of liquid fuels. Bots [2014] states that on several
VTTI-terminals the installations for the storage of biomass are identical to the installations for fossil fuels.
When selecting equipment, it is important to investigate if the properties of the liquid bulk are suitable for
that type of equipment, examples:
• Biodiesel needs to be stored at a certain temperature and therefore tanks and pipes needs to be insu-
lated and heated.
• Type of liquid bulk may possible effect certain equipment materials or the other way around, where
the equipment materials can effect the quality of liquid bulk. In both ways, the right type of equipment
material needs to be chosen.
3.2.1. T RANSSHIPMENT
Most of the ports, that handle liquid fuels, offer cargo-handling equipment for loading and unloading of ships.
This type of cargo-handling equipment can be adapted to the cargo, but that depends on the average volume
of trade of a certain type of cargo in the respective port. Pumps are used for the unloading (and loading)
of the liquid bulk and is located onshore. Additionally chemical tankers usually have appropriate pumping
equipment on board [Bradley et al., 2009]. There are different kinds of pumps, depending on the liquid (e.g.
viscosity) and use, for example the centrifugal pumps. Sterling SIHI produce different kinds of pumps with a
capacity of 650-1800m3 /h. A centrifugal pump for biodiesel (Figure 3.50 [Ohlen, 2011b]) can be made from
cast iron or stainless steel and a ethanol centrifugal pump (Figure 3.51 [Ohlen, 2011a]) is made from stainless
steel. These pumps can have a heat barrier for temperatures up to 400°C. A critical part of these pumps are
the seal systems and according to Bots [2014] the best available technology of this moment is the double
mechanical seals with a fluid barrier and leak detection system.
Figure 3.50: CBE Centrifugal pump for Figure 3.51: CBM Centrifugal pump for
biodiesel from Sterling SIHI Figure 3.52: Marine loading arm
ethanol from Sterling SIHI
Marine loading arms are an other solution to unload (or load) ships (Figure 3.52). The marine loading arms
2014.TEL.7893
have a diameter size ranging from 10 - 60cm and are made from carbon steel, low temperature carbon steel
and stainless steel (304L and 316L) [loading Equipments, 2014]. Operating temperatures can range from -
196 °C to +250°C and they loading arms can be equipped with the ability of isolation and/ or heating. A
critical part of a loading arm is the swivel joints, which makes it possible to manoeuvre the lifting arm without
product leaks.
3.2.2. T RANSPORTATION
After unloading, the liquid bulk needs to be transported from the tanker to the storage tank by pipelines
[Bradley et al., 2009]. These pipelines can be equipped with isolation and/ or heating elements depending on
whether the liquid biomass needs it. The pipelines that will transport pyrolysis oil require physical enhance-
ments and should be made from Stainless 304, -316, HDPE, EPDM, PVC or Teflon, because of the acidic and
thus corrosive nature of pyrolysis oil [Bradley et al., 2009]. Besides the heating of biodiesel to decrease the
viscosity, the carbon- or stainless steel pipelines for biodiesel and ethanol don’t need to be adjusted [Bots,
2014].
’Pigging’ is a method to empty pipes and is used when the pipeline needs to be used for another product
without contamination (Figure 3.53). The whole pigging system you need a pig launcher, a pig catcher/ re-
ceiver and a pig. The pig is propelled in the pipelines by nitrogen pressure and with regards to the flammable
characteristics also a inert gas is present. Next to cleaning, pigging can also be used for maintenance pur-
poses. Besides pigging, other methods exist for changing the pipeline-product [Bots, 2014]:
• The pipeline can be blown out with nitrogen, but it will always leave product remains.
• When the pipeline is constructed under a slope, the pipeline can be drained by collecting the liquid at
a low point in the pipeline with a small stripping pump.
• Flushing with an other product is also a method to clean the pipeline. Usually the low-quality product is
flushed away with a high-quality product. This means that the value and/ or quality of the high-quality
product that is used for this purpose normally are reduced.
There are many types, sizes and types of valves, each with specific characteristics. Depending on the function
in the terminal, a particular valve is selected. By automating the valves and equipped the control with a DCS
(computer control), accidents can be prevented, like opening wrong valves that can cause contamination.
Figure 3.53: Cleaning pig in a pipeline
Figure 3.54: An example of a valve Figure 3.55: An ethanol tank
3.2.3. S TORAGE
The only way to store a liquid, is in a tank, Figure 3.55. Storage tanks are built according to existing standards,
such as the PGS29 in the Netherlands, because liquid biomass is a dangerous good. The material, coating
and design-specifications of the tank need to be matched to the stored product [Bots, 2014]. The most com-
mon material for these tanks is welded a concrete to store liquid biomass [Williams et al., 2008]. Fluorinated
polyethylene, fluorinated polypropylene, Teflon and most fiberglass materials are also suited as storage tank
materials [Bradley et al., 2009].
When storing Ethanol, an alcohol-like and flammable substance, it is wise to store it in double wall steel fuel
storage tanks. Aluminium tanks should be avoid, because ethanol can corrode the aluminium and certain
grades of plastic, zinc, rubber and other soft metals as well as brass, copper and lead. An other disadvantage
of ethanol is that it readily mix with water, so tanks need to be inspected frequently for moisture, particulates
and separation to ensure the ethanol is of a dispensable quality [Evans, 2011].
Pure biodiesel can be transported and stored in equipment designed for diesel fuel without any problems,
3.2. L IQUID B ULK E QUIPMENT 29
but zinc and copper leech into biodiesel, causing impurities. Also the same procedures needs to be taken in
storage and handling that prevent the temperature of biodiesel from dropping below its cloud point [Bradley
et al., 2009]. Water promotes slime and bacteria growth in biodiesel and fuel degradation in biodiesel and
must be avoided [Evans, 2011].
Pyrolysis oils is not a very easy type of liquid biomass to handle, for example [Bradley et al., 2009]:
• If left standing for long periods, pyrolysis oil will eventually precipitate, because it is not a homogeneous
liquid, though it can be stirred back into the bulk with a slow-speed agitation.
• It is recommended to store pyrolysis oil insulated, with a frequent stir around the 10°C, even with a
pour point of below zero.
• Just as the pipelines, the storage tanks need to be made from Stainless 304, -316, HDPE, EPDM, PVC or
Teflon, due to the pH of 2-3, acidic and thus corrosive nature of pyrolysis oil.
3.2.4. L OADING SYSTEMS IN COMBINATION WITH TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

Liquid bulk biomass can be shipped in two types of bulk vessels, tankers and chemical tankers. Generally
chemical tankers, illustrated in Figure 3.56, are used for the transport of ethanol, biodiesel and pyrolysis oil.
The chemical tankers are equipped with a number of separate tanks and depending on the material and
coating on these thanks, the ship can transport different kinds of chemicals. Some tankers have separate
pumps and pipes for each tank, which enables it to handle different types of chemicals without any mixing.
Tankers can also be equipped with a boiler that transfers heat to the tanks through heating coils, which allow
the viscosity of certain chemicals (e.g. biodiesel) to remains at a certain level [Bradley et al., 2009].
When ethanol is transported with a tanker, a nitrogen blanket is provided to stop ethanol absorbing water.
Furthermore, the tanks that carry the ethanol need to be coated with dedicated tank coatings such as phenolic
epoxy or zinc silicate [Bradley et al., 2009].
For transporting biodiesel, the same requirements are needed as described in, section 3.2.3 for the storage
tanks (e.g. materials, contamination, temperature)[Laboratory, 2009].
Due to its small amount, pyrolysis oil is not currently shipped by ocean transport, but overland by truck and
rail [Bradley et al., 2009].
Figure 3.56: A typical chemical tanker

Figure 3.57: Truck loading arm
Figure 3.58: Rail loading arm
The marine loading arm, discussed in section 3.2.1, can also be used to load chemical tankers of other types
of ships (e.g. vessels). The loading arm can also be used for the loading and unloading of trucks (truck loading
arms, Figure 3.57) and trains (Rail loading arm, Figure 3.58) [Bots, 2014]. Just like the chemical tankers, the
trucks and rail wagons are quite similar in terms of tanks and have the same requirements as described above.
2014.TEL.7893
3.2.5. L IQUID BIOMASS HANDLING EQUIPMENT OVERVIEW

In this section a summarize is made of all the special and not special designed handling equipment for liquid
biomass and than especially for ethanol, biodiesel and pyrolysis oil. This summation is visible in Figure 3.59.
In this overview the most common liquid bulk handling equipment are presented who are found and known
by the author, but in most cases the discussed handling equipment is not specially designed for the selected
liquid biomass.
Figure 3.59: Overview of liquid biomass handling equipment
Now that the biomass handling equipment is discussed, it is useful to know which problems occur with the
biomass handling equipment and could be done to improve the designs. The outcome of this research is
discussed in the next chapter.
4
B IOMASS E QUIPMENT R EQUIREMENTS
During the research on current biomass handling equipment a lot of information has been found on which
problems occur with the biomass handling equipment and what could be potential design improvements.
In section 4.1 current handling and storage problems are discussed for the handling of the selected liquid
and (mainly) solid biomass. This information is used in the discussion about potential design improvements,
which is done in section 4.2.
4.1. B IOMASS HANDLING PROBLEMS

When handling loose bulk materials, issues of poor handling or storage characteristics can create consider-
able problems. It is crucial that the biomass is not degraded and that quality is maintained throughout the
entire logistic chain (from the point of view of biomass producers, biomass-end-users, and traders). These
problems may result in [Wu, 2012];
• Material degradation
• Cross contamination
• Spillage
• Self-heating & fires
• Dust emission & explosions
• Wear and corrosion
• Unwanted chemical reaction
• Unwanted material flow behaviour
When a situation together with the equipment and surrounding conditions are critical or when material char-
acteristics are overlooked, it may lead to serious problems. There are two types of these problems, internal
and external problems. The internal problems are mainly due to the biomass characteristics and the biolog-
ical nature and reactions, which is described in section 4.1.1. The external problems are principally because
of the surroundings and are described in section 4.1.2 [Wu, 2012].
4.1.1. I NTERNAL
The biomass materials in the scope, defined in chapter 1, have their own handling and storage problems. In
the next sections the global problems per biomass type are
W OOD PELLETS
In addition, all of the dry bulk biomass have heterogeneous particle sizes and this can cause a poor flow-
ability [Wu, 2012]. Wood pellets (and -chips) are very sensitive to moisture and in combination with heat and
oxygen in storage piles, this can result in spores/ mould, growth of the piles (Figure 4.1), self heating and even
self combustion [Wu, 2012].
W OOD CHIPS
Wood chips have a low bulk density, which results in an increased need for transportation, handling and
storage equipment and thus higher costs. The moisture content of wood chips is very high, that result in a

32 4. B IOMASS E QUIPMENT R EQUIREMENTS
low heating value and in combination with heat and oxygen leads to fungus (Figure 4.2). The fugitive particles
can form dust clouds and often be dispersed over considerable distances from the original source, causing
health hazards [Rentizelas et al., 2009] [Farnish, 2006].
T ORREFIED PELLETS
Due to the lack of information, no specific problems are identified for torrefied pellets. However, some of the
problems described in section 4.1.1 and section 4.1.1 are applicable for torrefied pellets, namely poor flow
ability and dust emission, yet torrefied pellets are more resistant than wood pellets regarding compression,
impact and shearing forces and water Janze2010.
Figure 4.1: Effect of water application to Figure 4.2: Wood chip pile with fungus Figure 4.3: Bacterial growth in biodiesel
pellets
E THANOL
When designing handling and storage equipment for ethanol, materials should be avoid, like aluminium and
certain grades of plastic, zinc, rubber and other soft metals, as well as brass, copper and lead. Other problems
with ethanol are that it is an alcohol-like and flammable substance and readily mix with water [Evans, 2011].
B IODIESEL
Zinc and copper need to be avoided to build handling and storage equipment for biodiesel, because it can
leech into the biodiesel and causing impurities. Furthermore the handling and storage equipment should
be provided with a heater, preventing the temperature of biodiesel from dropping below its cloud point and
lowering the viscosity. A high viscosity can affect the requirements of the handling equipment (e.g. higher
viscosity requires a more powerful pump). An other common problem with biodiesel is water, which can
cause slime, bacteria growth and fuel degradation, see Figure 4.3 [Envirosafe, 2014] [Wu, 2012].
P YROLYSIS OIL
Pyrolysis oil has a couple of characteristics that makes it difficult to handle. For starters, pyrolysis oil has a
pH of 2.2 - 3.0. This results in pipelines and tanks made of certain types of materials due to the corrosive
nature of pyrolysis oil (described in section 3.2.3). This is why it is recommended do not heat the pyrolysis oil
to 50°C, where the corrosion on stainless steels is low. When the effects of pyrolysis oil on metallic materials
are known, through all the processing steps required to reduce/remove the oxygen-containing compounds in
the pyrolysis oil to make it less corrosive [Keiser et al., 2011]. Pyrolysis oil is also flammable at extremely high
temperatures and once ignited burns with a stable, self-sustaining flame. An other important characteristic is
that pyrolysis oil will eventually precipitate if left standing for long periods, because it is not a homogeneous
liquid [Bradley et al., 2009]. Exposure to pyrolysis liquids and vapours must be avoided to prevent health
hazards. If it is not reasonably practicable, it needs to be controlled with personal protective equipment
[Care BioTox, 2006].
4.1.2. E XTERNAL
The external problems can be categorized under handling (section 4.1.2) and storage equipment (section
4.1.2). There were no problems found on handling and storage equipment for the liquid biomass in the re-
search scope.
H ANDLING EQUIPMENT
The category handling equipment is covered by transshipment’s, transportation’s, transfers, reclaiming- and
loading systems. The biggest problems with handling dry biomass are spillage, unwanted chemical reactions
4.1. B IOMASS HANDLING PROBLEMS 33
and of course dust formation and explosions.
During the handling of the dry biomass (with a low density and a high drag coefficient) significant amounts
of dust are airborne. The dust particles can be inhaled, which results in irritations of the lungs, nasals, res-
piratory systems and eyes. It can increase allergic reactions and severe illness (such as cancer when exposed
repeatedly over a longer period of time).
Next to the health hazards, dust can also create explosive hazards, because it is very flammable. Explosions
can occur when there is an interphase between biomass and air and it is ignited by electrostatic discharges,
friction or hot surfaces. Especially moving pellets with a front loader bears the risk for fines and dust forma-
tion [Stelte, 2012].
It can occur that the dry biomass fines are spilled. When trying to wash down these fines with water mists or
sprays, the biomass absorbs the water and causes it to go mouldy, creates flow problems and slip hazards on
floors. The mouldiness makes the now wet biomass adhere, which promotes further build-up and blockages
if they get back into the handling system. The emission of spores can also causes health hazards, like the
”farmer’s lung” [Khan et al., 2011].
Transfer points and towers are key locations in terms of dust emissions and need to be avoided to protect
the health of workers from the inhalation hazards of dust and spores, and to prevent explosions, that can
occur if a small fire or localized dust explosion brings down a residue of settled dust [Khan et al., 2011].
S TORAGE EQUIPMENT
Stored dry biomass is sensitive for problems, like material degradation, self-heating (& fires), unwanted chem-
ical reactions and unwanted material flow behaviour due to caking [Persson and Blomquist, 2009]. In the next
paragraphs these problems are discussed.
When storing dry biomass such as wood pellets, wood chips and torrefied pellets, numerous problems can
occur, including arching over outlets or feeders and substantial cliffs of self supporting particles. There are
two types of arching, mechanical and cohesive arching. Mechanical arching occurs due to interlocking of
large biomass particles comparison to the hopper outlet, but this is rare on ports, because of the size of the
equipment. Cohesive arching occurs as a result of the strength obtained by the material through consolida-
tion during storage [Farnish, 2006] [Khan et al., 2011].
There are two ways of self heating of biomass, by chemical oxidation reactions and/ or microbiological decay.
The risk of self-heating and self-ignition is higher when the biomass is fresh and has a high moisture con-
tent. In for example wood chip piles, self-heating can occur when uncovered-large piles are stored in open
air. Due to the moisture content (internal and environmental) fungi and bacteria can grow (microbiological
decay) and particle size and temperature will rise depending on the surface area and of course moisture con-
tent. This microbiological decay can increase the temperature up to 80°C (depending on the micro-organism
type), but chemical degradation usually start to have influence at around 40°C. Airborne fungal spores can
cause health hazards, like irritations and allergic reactions along the respiratory system, so inhalation and di-
rect contact should be avoided. In covered systems, poor ventilation can rise the temperature of large size and
highly compacted piles, which cause after some time spontaneous heating. In some cases (during shipping)
the ventilation is turned of to avoid the penetration of moisture into the storage. Compacting is a method
applied for coal to reducing oxygen transport in the storage pile and so heat generation, but it stimulates self
heating in storage piles of solid biomass [Stelte, 2012] [Wu, 2012] [Rentizelas et al., 2009].
The chemical oxidation reaction has an other disadvantage, namely the hazardous off-gassing of carbon
monoxide and oxygen depletion. This can occur during storage and ocean transportation. Several examples
can be found of accidents related to these storage and transportation problems of solid biofuels (especially
wood pellets) in Table 4.1 [Svedberg et al., 2008] [Stelte, 2012].
When storing a biomass pile over a long period (▷ 6 months), biomass has the tendency to degrade sub-
stantially (due to bacteria and fungi growth, which causes again self-heating). An other problem is caking
of the dry biomass within bunkers, due to (again) a high moisture content. This caking causes several flow
problems. Caking can also occur when spilled dry biomass gets wet and gets back into the system. When
2014.TEL.7893
this wet solid biomass is compressed it causes to cake. This caking can cause several problems in chutes and
storage equipment and after a long period, if the cake is not be removed, the cake can form mould [Khan
et al., 2011] [Wu, 2012].
Table 4.1: Examples of accidents related to the storage and transportation of solid biofuels [Stelte, 2012]
Year Place Accident

2002 Rotterdam A ship loader on board of the “Weaver Arrow” loaded with wood pellets went
down in the storage compartment and suffocated
2005 Gruvön A seaman suffocated on board of the wood freighter “Eken” when he went down
the stairs to the cargo room that was filled with pulpwood.
2006 Helsingborg A seaman on board of the “Saga Spray” suffocated when he went down the stairs
to the storage compartment filled with wood pellets. A ship loader and a rescue
team rushing for assistance got severely injured
2006 Skelleftehamn A seaman on board of the “Noren” died when he entered a storage compartment
filled with wood chips
2007 Timrå The captain and one seamen of the wood freighter “Fembria” died when they
walked in the storage compartment filled with timber wood.
2007 Finland A person died when walking into a small (10t) wood pellets silo.
2008 Finland Another person died when walking into a small (10t) wood pellets silo.
2009 Bornholm Two seaman on board of the “Amirante” died when they entered the cargo room
filled with wood pellets. The pellets were loaded one day before.
2010 Germany A person suffocated in a pellet storage (150t)
2010 Ireland A person suffocated in a pellet storage (7t)
2011 Switzerland A person suffocated in a pellet storage (100t)
2014 Geertruidenberg Fire at the Essent’s Amercentrale’s biomass power station caused by an explo-
sion of a conveyor belt.
2014 Mississippi A person died in an accident at a Drax Biomass plant
4.2. D ESIGN IMPROVEMENTS

The internal and external problems determined and listed in the previous section, can be prevented with
improvements to the equipment designs. In section 4.2.1 these improvements are discussed for handling
equipment designs and in section 4.2.2 for storage equipment designs [Nordtest, 2008].
4.2.1. D ESIGNING HANDLING EQUIPMENT

Dust is mainly formed by physical wear of the wood- and torrefied pellets and can be reduced if it is handled
with care. This is why high drops, bends, feeders and transfer points should be avoided. Special care should
be put in the transfer chute design, like an optimised ”hood and spoon” geometry, to minimize impact and
dust emission. [Stelte, 2012] [Khan et al., 2011].
Dry biomass has a lot of problems with dust formation and self-heating, which can ignite and cause explo-
sions and fires. Ignition can be the result of sparks generated by metal pieces or stones coming in contact with
the biomass or by overheating of motors, conveyor belts, bearings due to high friction. This ignition should
be avoid with spark detectors, dust level monitors and fire extinction systems [Stelte, 2012] [Khan et al., 2011].
To reduce the dust formation to zero should be a goal, but simultaneously it is not very feasible, especially
with wood pellets. Foam dust suppression systems has been used successfully, because the foam uses far less
water than misting or fogging. The advantage of using less water is that is reduces moisture uptake, caking
and mould formation. However the advantages, it is still important to check the following [Khan et al., 2011];
• Sufficiently low moisture content and no collecting in any adjacent areas

• System operating cost (incl. foaming agent)
• Equipment reliability
4.2. D ESIGN IMPROVEMENTS 35
Transfer points and towers are sensitive points in the supply chain, because they attract moisture by rain
ingress and dust can be spread by draughts. That is why it is important that the transfer points and towers are
being sealed against these moisture draughts. If the structure of the transfer towers is not designed properly
it can cause caking. The following design options should be applied [Farnish, 2006] [Khan et al., 2011]:
• Ledges should be eliminated

• Purlins of the cladding should be covered with a thin internal cladding
• Dust shedders should be equipped on exposed beams and flat tops of equipment boxes
• Placing a centralised vacuum cleaning system that regularly dry cleans for dust accumulations
• Installation of cascades or intercepting plates to capture the stream of fugitive particles
In general stream of the dry biomass should be enclosed completely wherever possible to prevent dust emis-
sion. If complete enclosure (which is preferred) is not possible with open conveyor transfer point, fitting dust
extraction systems can be considered, but this is more costly and less effective than enclosure [Khan et al.,
2011].
4.2.2. D ESIGNING STORAGE EQUIPMENT

If solid biomass is stored in storage equipment, it must meet certain properties to meet the desired design. In
this section these properties are discussed for biomass storage equipment. The physical properties of solid
biomass influences handling and storage equipment designs and especially when mass flow is desired by
discharging and to avoid arching [Khan et al., 2011]. The following physical properties are needed when de-
signing handling and storage equipment Williams et al. [2008] García Fernández et al. [2013] [Farnish, 2006]:
• Practical size and ranges

• Bulk density
• Density pressure relationships (for sensitive compaction and consolidation pressure solid biomass)
• Moisture content
• Angle of internal friction
• Coefficient of Friction (wall friction)
• Cohesion and flow function
These physical properties are not the only factors that influence the storage equipment design. The follow-
ing factors just as important and should also be included in the design and construction storage equipment
[Williams et al., 2008].
• Construction costs (investment costs)

• Durability (lifespan)
• Throughput (number of cycles)
• Operational costs (level of automation)
It is recommended to dry the solid biomass materials before storage. It is also recommended to sort the solid
biomass in terms of material particle size. Storing homogeneous compositions of storage piles can lead to
less microbiological activity, a more even air ventilation and can decrease the risk of self-heating. A disad-
vantage of pre-drying is that it creates the freedom of fines to escape from the bulk, leading to additional dust
formation, but proper maintenance and cleaning can decrease the risk of fines and dust explosions. Mixes of
solid biomass should also be avoided to decrease self-heating [Khan et al., 2011] [Wu, 2012] [Stelte, 2012].
Closed storage is preferred over open storage, because with closed storage the moisture content can bet-
ter be controlled with good ventilation [Khan et al., 2011] [Wu, 2012]. Ventilation should be done with hot air,
because that helps to avoid quality degradation of the biomass (due to infections, fermentation and material
loss) and decreases the moisture content and by that increasing the energy content [Rentizelas et al., 2009].
If the biomass is stored below a certain limiting moisture content of typically 14%, the biomass materials
can be stable [Khan et al., 2011]. Furthermore compacted storage piles should be avoided, because it lead to
local wet spots concentrations and self-heating via microbiological activity [Wu, 2012]. Extra self-heating by
heat absorption through corrugated metal and dark colours of the storage equipment, like silo’s can easily be
avoided by a smooth white surface [Stelte, 2012].
The shape of the storage piles is important when storing solid biomass for ▷ 3 months. It is important that the
2014.TEL.7893
storage time of the solid biomass is minimized, due to risk of fermentation or consolidation [Farnish, 2006].
Research has been done on the effects of pile width and -height on self-heating [Jirjis, 2005]. For the geometry
of a wood chips pile, the width affects self-heating more than the pile height in case of equal volumes of piles,
because it reduces air flow more. The recommended geometry of a storage pile of wood chips should not be
more than 8 meters width and 4 meters high with a maximum bulk volume of 1000m3 according to the Office
of the Fire Marshal from Ontario in Canada [OFM, 1998]. It is advised that (handling and) storage equip-
ment is equipped with temperature-, spark-, CO- and NOX monitoring/detection devices and gas injections
at the bottom to avoid incidents (e.g. fires and (suffocation-) accidents). The temperature of for example
wood pellets in a silo should be ≺ 45°C and before entering storage equipment, the storage needs to be extra
ventilated to prevent suffocation by the gasses formed [Wu, 2012] [Obernberger and Thek, 2010] [Stelte, 2012].
The shape of the storage equipment must promote mass flow, when reclaiming the solid biomass. Mass flow
is desired, because every particle of the bulk solid materials moves when some material is taken out of the
outlet and gives a first-in, first-out flow pattern. The design of a, for example bunker, can promotes mass flow
and by that eliminate dead regions within the bin, bridging, rat holing or arching(mechanical and cohesive)
[Farnish, 2006] [Khan et al., 2011]. When mass flow can be reached, flailing can be used to get the materials
moving and reducing caking [Khan et al., 2011].
After determining the material properties of the in scope liquid biomass a special coating for the inner layer
of the storage tanks is recommended. With pyrolysis oil, this inner layer must be made from stainless steel,
Teflon or various polymers. Furthermore it is desirable to store a stable liquid biomass and this can be reached
if attention is paid to storage conditions, like [Wu, 2012];
• Time (e.g. biodiesel shouldn’t be stored longer than 7 months)

• Temperature (e.g. viscosity)
• Properties of storage tank (e.g. tank materials)
• Ambient conditions (e.g. no contact with oxygen, water and sunlight)[Envirosafe, 2014]
All information concerning the scope is gathered in chapters 2, 3 and 4. In the next chapter the conclusion
and recommendation are made based on this information.
5
C ONCLUSION & R ECOMMENDATIONS
The main goal of this literature study is to gain better understanding in the biomass handling industry for
the solid and liquid biomass types that are included in the scope. In the conclusion (section 5.1) the main
research goal is answered with the research performed in the previous chapters. Suggested valuable future
follow-up research is listed in the recommendations (section 5.2).
5.1. C ONCLUSION
The results of this literature study suggest that the biomass handling industry is growing rapidly and with this
the diversity of biomass handling equipment. The research goal raised in chapter 1 was:
“What kind of biomass handling equipment is currently being used and in which way can biomass be handled
without affecting its physical properties?”
The sub-questions have been discussed as various subjects in previous chapters in order to answer the main
research goal presented in chapter 1. The three sub-questions were:
R EGARDING THE DESIGN OF THE BIOMASS HANDLING EQUIPMENT;

• Which biomass bulk handling characteristics drive the design?
• Which standards are currently being used?
• How does the solid biomass interact with the equipment?
In order to gain more understanding and knowledge of the biomass characteristics, the industrial biomass
standards and the interaction of the biomass with the equipment, research is performed and the following
conclusions can be made:
• Technical innovations (e.g. pelletization & torrefaction) have improved the physical properties of solid
biomass. Still biomass properties can not match the properties of fossil fuels in terms of bulk density
and energy content.
• Due to the relatively young market of bulk biomass, no standards could be found for the design of
specific biomass handling equipment. At the current moment the published and under draft standards
for solid and liquid biofuels are mainly focused on the quality of the biomass and safe handling and
storing. Hence, there are no specific standards for biomass handling equipment at this moment.
• There are several tests that are used to determine the compressive resistance, impact resistance, wa-
ter resistance and durability of a pellet. However, there are no developed standards on the minimum
acceptance levels of these tests or which of the tests is considered the best or the most frequently used.
• The dust created by the breakage of for example wood pellets, is one of the most serious problem with
handling solid biomass, because when dust goes airborne, it can cause health issues, environmental
pollution and explosions. There are three type of forces that cause particle degradation (especially with
wood pellets); compression force, shearing force and the most dominant one, impact force. These
forces causing pellets to break, which in turn causes fines and dust. Compression forces can be found
during transshipment (e.g. grabs), reclaiming and storage (e.g. weight load). Compression forces can

38 5. C ONCLUSION & R ECOMMENDATIONS
be minimized by gentile handling and limited pile dimensions. Shearing force occur when for exam-
ple a silo is emptied by a hopper. Impact forces usually occurs during transportation, transfer (e.g.
transfer towers) and loading. It can be minimized by gentile handling and special designed equip-
ment (e.g. ”hood and spoon” transfer points). No information has been found on the effects of particle
degradation forces on wood chips and torrefied pellets nor on the amount of damage inflicted by each
individual of the three forces.
W HAT KIND OF SOLID AND LIQUID BIOMASS HANDLING EQUIPMENT IS CURRENTLY BEING USED IN INDUSTRY ?
The following conclusions can be made regarding to the selected biomass and handling equipment:
• Only a few types of special designed handling equipment can be found for torrefied pellets, because the
handling quantity is relatively low and the physical properties of torrefied pellets are quite similar to
coal. For the current amount of torrefied handling volume, no adjustments are expected to be required
to the handling equipment and operations.
• The handling of wood chips can be rougher than wood pellets. The downside is that the wood chips
bulk density is very low, causing extra transport costs. The moisture content of wood chips is relative
high, which causes other disadvantages, such as fungus and self-heating. As a result adjustments to the
handling equipment are required.
• Within the solid biomass scope, most information can be found on wood pellets handling equipment.
This is because the market for wood pellets is growing faster due to its properties (e.g. high energy con-
tent). Furthermore, regarding the fragile structure, wood pellets need more gentile handling compared
to wood chips and torrefied pellets.
• The in scope liquid biomass, ethanol, biodiesel and pyrolysis oil, need adjusted handling equipment,
because it can be handled like their fossil fuel equals. Due to the properties of the liquids the handling
equipment needs to be made of special construction materials. If no special construction materials are
used, the handling equipment can corrode and/ or leech into the liquid biomass, causing impurities.
W HICH PROBLEMS OCCUR WITH THE BIOMASS HANDLING EQUIPMENT AND WHAT COULD BE POTENTIAL DESIGN
IMPROVEMENTS ?
Within this research problems are identified concerning the handling of biomass, such as material degrada-
tion, cross contamination, spillage, self-heating & fires, dust emission & explosions, wear & corrosion, un-
wanted chemical reaction and unwanted material flow behaviour. These internal and external problems are
affecting the biomass properties, as such design improvements are summarized and the following conclu-
sions can be made:
• Contamination with other liquids is a problem for the in scope liquid biomass. This can occur when
the wrong type of construction material is used for the handling equipment.
• Not only spillage of biomass has economic disadvantages, it can also cause other problems. If the
spilled material gets wet and back in the system, it can cause blockages, fungus and self-heating. Spillage
can be avoided with closed handling equipment. Explosions can occur when when there is an inter-
phase between the biomass and air and it is ignited by electrostatic discharges, frictions or hot surfaces.
The explosions can be minimized with spark detectors, dust level monitors and fire extinction systems.
• When the material for the handling equipment of liquid biomass is not correctly chosen, it can cause
corrosion or the equipment-material can leech into the liquid biomass, causing impurities.
• Controlling the moisture content is very important in solid biomass, because if it is to low, it causes
more dust emission and if it is to high it can cause fungus and caking.
• Self-heating can be caused by chemical oxidation reactions and/ or microbiological decay if the solid
biomass contains a high percentage of moisture. Self-heating can cause fires, carbon monoxide and
oxygen depletion. This is why storage equipment needs to be equipped with temperature, spark, CO
and NOX monitoring/ detection devices. Good ventilation can also minimize these problems.
• Unwanted (solid) material flow behaviour occurs when storage equipment (e.g. hopper) is not designed
properly. This can cause mechanical and cohesive arching and self supporting particles.
G ENERAL CONCLUSIVE STATEMENT

Concluding it can be stated that there is a great diversity of handling equipment for the selected solid and
liquid biomass, but not all the equipment used, is special designed biomass handling equipment. When
handling biomass it can cause several problems, which can be avoided by using the current equipment with
adjustments or redesigning current equipment.
5.2. R ECOMMENDATION 39
5.2. R ECOMMENDATION
A lot of future work needs to be done to make biomass handling economic competitively with fossil fuels. The
following topics are proposed for the future improvement for handling biomass.
• In this literature study an overview is made for the several types of biomass bulk handling equipment
and problems and solutions are presented. Experiments could be conducted on the biomass handling
equipment for the problems (i.e. dust emission, moisture & self-heating) and solutions (i.e. closed
equipment, gentle handling & detection devices).
• To get a better understanding of the interaction between the solid biomass material characteristics and
the handling equipment extra experiments should be conducted. The compression, shearing, impact
forces needs to be examined to determine which force is dominant in the solid biomass degradation.
Some research has been conducted on these forces on wood pellets, but no research has been done for
wood chips and torrefied pellets. This is also a recommendation by Wu [2012].
• Solutions are given for minimizing compression and impact forces. This research is also needed to find
solutions to minimize shear force.
• The focus in this research is on handling equipment, but as suggested much literature is found on the
biomass supply chain in the ports. Research can point out that another type of supply chain is much
more efficient, but needs other types of handling equipment.
• Understanding of the effects of pyrolysis oil on metallic materials is needed throughout all the pro-
cessing steps required to reduce or remove oxygen-containing compounds in the bio-oil to make it less
corrosive.
2014.TEL.7893
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FACULTY MECHANICAL, MARITIME AND

Specialization: Transport Engineering and Logistics

Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

Title: Biomass handling equipment in

Author: L.S.J.C. Lanphen

Title (in Dutch) Biomassa installaties in Europese havens;

Assignment: Literature Study

Initiator (university): Delft University of Technology

Supervisor: ir. I. Dafnomilis

Date: January 22, 2015

Student: L.S.J.C. Lanphen Assignment type: Literature study

Subject: Biomass handling equipment in European ports; an overview of current designs

For more information, contact Dr. ir. D. L. Schott (B-4-300; D.L.Schott@tudelft.nl)

The professor and supervisors,

- Material degradation - Dust emission & explosions

1 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

3 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

5 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

Scope solid biomass: Scope liquid biomass:

1. Regarding the design of the biomass handling equipment:

2.1. S OLID B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS

7 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

Figure 2.2: Wood pellets Figure 2.3: Wood chips

2.1.1. W OOD PELLETS

2.1.2. W OOD CHIPS

2.1.3. T ORREFIED PELLETS

2.1.4. P HYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOLID BIOMASS

Material Bituminous coal Wood pellets Wood chips Torrefied pellets

2.2. L IQUID B IOMASS C HARACTERISTICS

Figure 2.5: Ethanol Figure 2.7: Pyrolysis Oil

• Feedstocks rich on sugar (sugar-beet, sugarcane and molasses)

2.2.3. P YROLYSIS OIL

2.2.4. P HYSICAL PROPERTIES OF LIQUID BIOMASS

2.3. B IOMASS STANDARDS

2.3.3. S TANDARDS FOCUS

2.4. I NTERACTION OF THE DRY BIOMASS WITH THE HANDLING EQUIPMENT

Pellet degradation = Number of impacts × Impact force (2.1)

• Drop height (i.e., filling and discharge transport vehicles)

• Compression forces result in a crushing action

- Kahl tester - Tablet hardness tester

D OMINANT ( PELLET ) PARTICLE DEGRADATION FACTOR

Impact force > Shear force > Compression force

3.1. S OLID B ULK E QUIPMENT

15 Report number: 2014.TEL.7893

Figure 3.7: A ship vacuum unloader of Nautic Expo

Figure 3.8: An intersection of a sandwich

3.1.2. T RANSPORTATION & T RANSFER

P OUCH - & PIPE CONVEYORS

Figure 3.17: Bucket conveyor Figure 3.18: Screw conveyor

Figure 3.21: Filtration technology

3.1.4. R ECLAIMING SYSTEMS

WALKING FLOOR- RECLAIMERS

• To push material to one end of the bunker

Figure 3.26: Saxlund Push floor

F LAT BOTTOM SILO SYSTEMS

Figure 3.29: The Saxlund Hydraulic Rotor Discharger

Figure 3.32: Linear tubefeeder by Jeffrey

Figure 3.35: Working principle of a Saxlund

Figure 3.36: Chain reclaimer

3.1.5. L OADING SYSTEMS IN COMBINATION WITH TRANSPORT EQUIPMENT

T RUCK LOADING SYSTEMS

• European tank trucks with pneumatic feed

Figure 3.39: Telescopic loading