JFUE 1102

Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910

Physical properties of bagasse

M.G. Rasul a,*, V. Rudolph a, M. Carsky b
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Qld 4072, Australia
b
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Durban-Westville, Durban 4000, South Africa
Received 21 September 1998; accepted 13 January 1999

Abstract
Bagasse is a by-product of sugar milling and important fuel resource for that industry. It is a fibrous, low density material with a very wide
range of particle sizes and high moisture content. It is difficult to characterize properties of bagasse particles in the usual ways (i.e. by particle
density, size, drag co-efficient, etc.). These properties are necessary to apply normal design procedures to, for example, pneumatic conveying,
fluidization, drying, combustion, etc. In this paper techniques to determine some physical properties of the three major components of
bagasse, namely pith, fibre and rind, are demonstrated. Average material properties may then be obtained based on the weight proportions of
the components constituting the bagasse. 䉷 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bagasse; Physical properties; Experimental measurement

Nomenclature and is the fuel resource for that industry. Bagasse consists of
three components namely, pith, fibre and rind mixed in
CDt Drag coefficient
different proportions. There is a considerable difference in
D Cylindrical diameter, m
shapes and sizes of the three components. The rather regular
deq Equivalent cylinder diameter (defined by Eq.(1)),
shape of spongy pith particles with a near unity length/width
m
dhed Hydrodynamic equivalent diameter, mm ratio can be approximated by a spherical shape. The shape
of fibres with high length/width ratios can be modelled by
dp* Dimensionless diameter, m
cylinders. The large rind material roughly comprise rectan-
g Gravitational constant ( ˆ 9.81), m/s 2
gular particles with high length/width ratios. Some fibres are
L Length of bagasse fibres and rind, m
often adjacent to the inner wall of the rind particles. The
Ret Terminal Reynolds number (r gUtdhed/m)
literature provides some reports of properties of bagasse
Ut Terminal velocity, m/s
particles, for example, geometric properties and bulk
Vpore Pore volume, m 3
density [1]. The literature does not provide an appropriate
xt,xf,xr Mass fraction of pith, fibre and rind, %
r abs Absolute or skelatal density, kg/m 3 method for determining bagasse particle density. Terminal
velocity and drag coefficient of bagasse fibre has been
r bag, Particle density of bagasse, kg/m 3
published by Nebra and Macedo [2]. Both the parameters
rg Density of gas (air), kg/m 3
are functions of particle size and very important for example
rp Particle density, kg/m 3
in design of pneumatic conveying or fluidized bed systems.
r t, r f, r r Particle density of pith, fibre and rind respectively,
Typically, the equivalent cylinder diameter (deq), given in
kg/m 3
Eq.(1), is used to represent bagasse particle size [2],
m Viscosity of fluid, kg/m s
!1=2
a2 ⫹ b2
deq ˆ ; …1†
2
1. Introduction
where dimensions a and b are shown in Fig. 1. This has a
Bagasse, the crushed remnants of sugar cane stalks left general problem in that fibres will have exactly the same deq
after the extraction of juice, is a by-product of sugar milling, regardless of their lengths. As the particle surface will
significantly affect the terminal velocity and drag co-effi-
* Corresponding author. Tel.: ⫹61-7-3365-9067; fax: ⫹61-7-3365-4199 cient, this is not a convincing or suitable measure. Hydro-
E-mail address: rasul@cheque2.cheque.uq.edi.au (M.G. Rasul) dynamic equivalent diameter (dhed) provides a suitable
0016-2361/99/$ - see front matter 䉷 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0016-236 1(99)00011-3
906 M.G. Rasul et al. / Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910
Fig. 1. Characteristic dimension of bagasse particles (Nebra and Macedo [2]).
average length parameter in many other systems and is
proposed here for bagasse as well.
In this article methods to measure the particle density of
bagasse are presented. Measurements of terminal velocity of
fibre and rind bagasse in a simple fluidization column
provide a convenient method for measuring dhed of these
particles. Correlations for predicting dhed and drag coeffi-
cient (CDt) of fibre and rind bagasse are proposed.
2. Particle density of bagasse
Particle density (r p) of a material is defined as the ratio of
the mass of the particles to the volume enclosed by the outer
surface of the particles. For porous materials this volume
includes void volume within the particle, for example due to
pores [3]. Direct measurement of particle density is not easy
for bagasse. Particle density can be determined by measur-
ing the pore volume of the particles and using the following
equation [4]:
1 •
rp ˆ : …2†
…1=rabs † ⫹ Vpore
The common methods for determining pore volume have
not been successfully applied to bagasse, preventing the
simple calculation of particle density by Eq.(2). Alternative
methods had to be found to determine the density of indi-
vidual constituents of bagasse.
2.1. Measurement procedures
2.1.1. Pith particle density
The procedure used is based on the filling of the pores of
the particles with water and then measuring the particle
envelope volume in a density bottle, using an organic liquid
as the displacement medium. Two methods were used:
2.1.1.1. Method 1
• About 5 g of dry sample was soaked in water for 48 h and
held at 20 kPa (abs) for two hours. The sample was
shaken several times during the evacuation period to
assist removal of all the trapped air. This procedure
was assumed to fully wet the sample and remove all
the internal air.
• The wet sample was decanted to remove most of the
external water. Acetone was then added into the bottle,
left for a couple of minutes and then decanted off.
• Then the sample was dried quickly (over about 5 min)
with hot humid air to remove acetone solvent. At that
time it was observed that the particles were separated
from each other and appeared visually to be dry on the
external surface. The sample was then divided into two
approximate equal parts.
• The volume of a measured mass of one part of the sample
was obtained using a pycnometer (density bottle) with
kerosene as a displacement liquid.
• The water content of a measured mass of the other part
was determined by drying the sample in an oven at 105⬚C
until constant weight was achieved.
The particle density was then calculated from the dry
sample mass and the sample volume from density bottle.
2.1.1.2. Method 2 (Jones [3])
• A sample of pith bagasse is added to a container of water.
The water is then brought to boil and maintained at boil-
ing condition for about 15 min. As the bagasse particles
take up moisture they sink, until all of the bagasse is
lying at the bottom of the bottle. The excess water is
then decanted off.
• The wet sample was then dried as a thin layer in an oven
at 105⬚C for an hour approximately. When surface of the
particles were just dry, the sample was removed from the
oven. At this stage, the majority of the pores are still
filled with water.
• Using a conventional pycnometer (density bottle) and the
water-saturated sample, the particle density was
measured by displacement with kerosene.
 M.G. Rasul et al. / Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910
2.1.2. Fibre particle density
Twenty-seven samples of fibres were cut into 30.00 ^
0.20 mm length and were dried in an oven at 105⬚C for
several hours until steady weight was achieved. Considering
a fibre as a cylinder and measuring its diameter, the particle
density was calculated. The fibre diameter was obtained by
Nikon shadograph.
2.1.3. Rind particle density
The particle density of rind was determined by cutting
sections of rind into rectangular slabs. The volumes of the
rectangular slabs were calculated by measuring their dimen-
sions using vernier callipers. As the rind particles may
contain some sugar and other solubles, these were removed
by immersing the samples in a relatively large quantity of
water for few days before drying in an oven at 105⬚C to
constant weight. The density was then calculated using dry
sample weight and measured volume of slab. Five samples
were taken into account for this density measurement.
2.2. Results and discussion
The particle density of pith was found to be 20 ^ 20 kg/
m 3 using method 1 and 240 ^ 10 kg/m 3 using method 2.
Clearly, both of these methods depend upon the sample
preparation procedure to get an externally dry but an intern-
ally fully wet sample. Both are prone to some subjective
error in this aspect. A pith particle density of 220 kg/m 3 has
been used here, as method 1 seems less liable to operator
discretion and arbitrary experimental judgements. The
density of fibre and rind particles were found to be 520 ^
10 kg/m 3 and 550 ^ 20 kg/m 3, respectively. By contrast the
skeletal density of dry bagasse using a multipycnometer was
found to be 1470 ^ 30 kg/m 3. This compares with 1330 kg/
m 3 (Crawford [5]) and 1510 ^ 10 kg/m 3 (Pidduck [6]) for
dry fibres of bagasse.
The average particle density of bagasse was then deter-
mined from the measured density of the components and
their proportions using the formula
1 x x x
ˆ t ⫹ f ⫹ r; …
rbag rt rf rr
where
xt ⫹ xf ⫹ xr ˆ 1: …
In a typical sample, the proportion of pith at about 5%,
fibres 73% and rind 22% by weight was found by mechan-
ical separation. Using the formula given in Eq. (3), the
particle density of bagasse was found to be 492 ^ 15 kg/
m 3. Hence, the voidage in the porous bagasse particles was
found to be about 66%.
3. Particle size and drag coefficient
The particle size distribution of powder is generally
described by sieve analysis. For bagasse, this sieve analysis
907
can be carried out for spongy pith particle only, because
these are nearly spherical in shape. The sieve size can be
used with reasonable confidence for designing processing
systems such as drying, combustion, pneumatic conveying,
etc. The other two components, fibre and rind particles, are
difficult to characterize by sieving and the sieve size does
not provide a meaningful size (diameter) measurement
owing to their strange and very non-spherical morphology.
An alternative method is necessary to determine a mean-
ingful characteristic length measure. For these particles,
hydrodynamic equivalent diameter (dhed) seems appropriate
for many system design requirements. The dhed can be deter-
mined by measuring the terminal velocity and particle
density. The terminal velocity can be measured using
fluidization technique.
Given the terminal velocity of a particle, Haider and
Levenspiel [7] present the following useful approximation
for spherical particles:
2 31=3 2 3⫺1
r 2
 5 ˆ6
18 0:591 7
Ut 4 
g
4  2 ⫹  0:5 5 ; …5†
m rp ⫺ rg g d*p d*p
where the dimensionless diameter d*p is given by [8]:
dhed
d*p ˆ h   i1=3 : …6†
m2 =rg rp ⫺ rg g
If Ut is experimentally measured, and the system proper-
ties are known, then dhed can be calculated for a hydrodyna-
mically equivalent (fictious) sphere from Eqs. (5) and (6).
When a spherical particle of size dhed falls through a fluid
at terminal velocity (Ut), its drag co-efficient (CDt) can be
estimated from fluid mechanics by the equation of sedimen-
tation of a single sphere in an unlimited environment
2   3
1 4 4dhed rp ⫺ rg g 5
CDt ˆ 2 : …7†
Ut 3rg
3†
3.1. Experimental
The equipment used to determine the terminal free-fall
4† velocity was a simple fluidization column. The column was
made of perspex of inside diameter 25 mm and total height
of 2 m, fitted with a porous plate distributor at the bottom.
Air was used as a fluidizing gas. Air flow rate was measured
by rotameters.
Fibres and rind bagasse were loaded into the fluidization
column. The air was then gradually increased until the parti-
cles floated near the middle of the column. From that point,
if air flow was increased further, the particles eluted from
the column. The velocity corresponding to steady floating of
the particles was taken to be the terminal settling velocity
and was recorded from the rotameter reading. The terminal
velocity was used to calculate dhed.
908 M.G. Rasul et al. / Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910

Fig. 2. Bagasse terminal velocity as a function of dhed.

3.2. Results and discussion
The hydrodynamic equivalent diameter (dhed) of fibre and
rind particles were calculated from Eqs. (5) and (6) using
measured terminal velocity and particle density. It was
observed that Ut of these particles increases with dhed, as
expected, with the following form:
ÿ

Ut ˆ 2:96 dhed 0:58 …8†
where dhed is in mm and Ut is in m/s. Fig. 2 shows the
relationship between Ut and dhed.Nebra and Macedo [2]
measured the terminal velocity of fibre bagasse in ambient
air by allowing the particles to fall from heights of 4 and
6 m. and recording the time required to fall. They found that
terminal velocity increases with equivalent cylinder
diameter (deq) in the form of
 0:397
Ut ˆ 2:41 deq …9†
for 1 ⬍ deq ⬍ 6 mm (Fig. 3). Direct comparison of terminal
velocity cannot be done with their data because insufficient
information is recorded to calculate dhed from their data.
However, the terminal velocity calculated by their method
shows significant scatter compared with their data (Fig. 4).
The data from this study is also shown in the figure and
compares well with the calculated values according to our
method of calculation.
The drag coefficient of these bagasse particles decreases

Fig. 3. Terminal velocity versus equivalent cylinder diameter (deq) for fibre-type bagasse (Nebra and Macedo [2]).
 M.G. Rasul et al. / Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910 909

Fig. 4. Comparison of measured and calculated terminal velocities.

exponentially with terminal Reynolds number as shown in
Fig. 5. An empirical expression for the relationship is,
ÿ

CDt ˆ Ret ⫺0:1 ; …10†
for 342 ⬍ Ret ⬍ 2653 with a correlation coefficient of 0.972
and Ret ˆ r gUtdhed/mg. Drag co-efficient data of Nebra and
Macedo [2] who used equivalent cylinder diameter for
Reynolds number calculation is shown in Fig. 6. They
expressed these data in the form of
ÿ

CDt ˆ 2:07 Ret ⫺0:242 …11†
for 10 ⬍ Ret ⬍ 2000. The use of the equivalent cylinder
diameter to calculate Reynolds number does not seem
reasonable for correlation with drag coefficient, because it
implies that a long cylinder will have exactly the same drag
coefficient as a short one. For bagasse (the hydrodynamic)
equivalent spherical diameter seems a more appropriate
parameter for expressing terminal velocity and drag
coefficient.
4. Conclusions
Particle density, hydrodynamic equivalent diameter and
drag co-efficient of bagasse are basic data for the design of
systems such as drying, combustion, pneumatic transport,

Fig. 5. Drag co-efficient of bagasse as a function of terminal Reynolds number.

910 M.G. Rasul et al. / Fuel 78 (1999) 905–910

Fig. 6. Drag co-efficient versus terminal Reynolds number for fibre-type bagasse (Nebra and Macedo [2]).

separation in cyclones, etc. Methods for determination of References

above physical properties of bagasse have been addressed.
A new method for particle density provides a useful addition
to the methodologies available for experimentally obtaining
this information. Measured results for physical properties,
including particle density, terminal velocity, drag
coefficient and hydrodynamic equivalent diameter, are
given together with simple empirical equations which
allow the properties to be easily calculated. The hydrody-
namic diameter is convenient length dimension for use in
standard hydrodynamic calculations. These methods can be
used for physical properties determination of any fibrous
biomass.
[1] Ponce N, Friedman P, Leal D. Int. Sugar J. 1983;85(1018):291.
[2] Nebra SA, Macedo IDC. Int. Sugar J. 1988;90(1077):168.
[3] Jones PJ. 1981. Downflow of gas-solids mixtures in bottom-restrained
vertical standpipes, Ph.D. Thesis, Dept. of Chem. Eng., University of
Queensland, Australia.
[4] Geldart D. Powder Technol. 1990;60:1.
[5] Crawford WR. Proc. Qld. Soc. Sugar Cane Technol. Australia
1954;21:p.132.
[6] Pidduck J. Proc. Qld. Soc. Sugar Cane. Technol. Australia
1955;22:147.
[7] Haider A, Levenspiel O. Powder Technol. 1989;58:63.
[8] Kunii D, Levenspiel O. Fluidization engineering. 2. Butterworth Heine-
mann series in chemical engineering. Boston, MA: Butterworth, 1991.