Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515

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Energy Conversion and Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/enconman

A comparative study of biomass pellet and biomass-sludge mixed pellet:

Energy input and pellet properties
Longbo Jiang a,b, Xingzhong Yuan a,b,⇑, Zhihua Xiao c, Jie Liang a,b, Hui Li d,⇑, Liang Cao a,b, Hou Wang a,b,
Xiaohong Chen e, Guangming Zeng a,b
a
College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China
b
Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control, Hunan University, Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China
c
College of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha, Hunan 410128, PR China
d
Institute of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Hunan Academy of Forestry, Changsha 410004, PR China
e
Collaborative Innovation Center of Resource-Conserving & Environment-Friendly Society and Ecological Civilization, Changsha 410083, PR China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Pelletization has been widely used for mass and energy densification of biomass. As the demand for pel-
Received 14 May 2016 lets increases, the conventional raw materials will be insufficient. In this study, the feasibility of sludge
Received in revised form 16 July 2016 mixed with biomass pellets as a solid fuel was researched. Sludge mixed pellets and pure biomass pellets
Accepted 15 August 2016
were investigated to evaluate the energy consumption and pellet properties, including proximate
analysis, moisture adsorption, pellet density, Meyer hardness, volume expansion, higher heating value
and combustion characteristics. The results showed that sludge mixed pellets had reduced energy input,
Keywords:
increased hardness, decreased moisture absorption rate and improved combustion characteristics
Sewage sludge
Biomass
compared with pure biomass pellets. However, the increased ash content of sludge mixed pellets should
Pelletization be noted. These results indicate that there is a balance between an improvement in fuel quality and an
Energy consumption increase in ash content. The sludge mixed pellets could be a suitable solid fuel.
Combustion characteristics Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Currently, renewable energy developing has received consider-
able attention in the world. Among these renewable energies, den-
sified biomass, especially pellets has drawn the global attention
due to its advantage over raw biomass such as its physical and
combustion characteristics [1]. In China, densified biomass fuel
was sought by the government to replace coal in present firing
plants without any significant modifications because of the rapid
growth of energy demands and the dwindling reserves of fossil fuel
[2]. The production capacity of pellets using agriculture wastes in
China was 3 million ton in 2010, and aimed to increase to
10 million ton in 2015, furthermore reach to 50 million ton by
the year of 2020 [3,4].
The primary biomass materials used for making pellets are not
only wood residues, such as sawdust, wood shavings and wood
chips, but also agro-residues, such as straw, waste products of
the food industry and fuel crops [5,6]. Meanwhile, the pellet
markets have developed fast in the past decade. Therefore, the
⇑ Corresponding authors at: College of Environmental Science and Engineering,
Hunan University, Changsha 410082, PR China (X. Yuan).
E-mail addresses: yxz@hnu.edu.cn (X. Yuan), tcuhui@gmail.com (H. Li).
preferred raw materials for wood pellet production, such as cutter
shavings and sawdust, are consumed to the maximum extent. This
results in the highly competitive raw material market among pellet
making, fired power generation, charcoal, and plate industries. The
competitive raw material market has been increasing the price of
raw material. In recent years, various biomass materials had been
used to make pellets, such as tea waste, bamboo, waste paper and
wheat straw mixtures, switchgrass, cotton stalk, rapeseed cake,
olive cake, palm kernel cake, corn stover, reed canary-grass, peanut
hulls and poultry litter [7–10]. However, it is not enough at all with
the development of pellets industry. On the other hand, the
mechanical strength and hardness of pellets made from the above
biomass were always unsatisfactory as mixing unknown biomass
for pelleting procedure. The addition of binders can improve the
mechanical strength. However, higher price of binder increased
the feedstock cost of pelletization.
Sewage sludge (SS) is a complex heterogeneous mixture of
microorganisms, inorganic materials, moisture and undigested
organics including paper, plant residues, oils, or fecal material.
Conventional sludge disposal methods including landfill, incinera-
tion, ocean disposal and land application are already facing
increasing pressure and protest from environmental authorities
and from the public domain [11]. It is known that SS contains a

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2016.08.035
0196-8904/Ó 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
510 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515

significant amount of proteins and carbohydrates, which could
serve as a potential natural binder to make it suitable for pelleting
[12]. Dospoy et al. [13] firstly managed to produce sludge derived
fuel from paper sludge, powder coal, and plastics and realized the
industrial application. Currently, several studies have been con-
ducted, focusing on the physical properties and combustion char-
acteristics of sludge refuse-derived fuel (RDF) [14–18]. However,
the feasibility of sludge mixed with biomass to produce pellets
using a single pellet press and the effect of sludge addition on
the energy consumption and pellet properties have never been
reported. The results of this study are significant for the feasibility
of sludge applying in the current biomass pellet industry.
In this study, three kinds of raw materials (Chinese fir, camphor
and rice straw) were applied for pelletization, representing soft-
wood, hardwood and herb, respectively. Sludge mixed pellets and
pure biomass pellets were investigated to compare the energy con-
sumption and pellet properties, including proximate analysis,
moisture adsorption, pellet density, Meyer hardness, volume
expansion, higher heating value and combustion characteristics.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
materials was analyzed by CHNOS Elemental Analyzer Vario EL
III (Elementar Analysen systeme GmbH, Germany). Proximate
analysis was carried out according to the Standard Practice for
the Proximate Analysis of solid biofuels (GB/T28731-2012) using
a Jinghong SXL-1002 program control chamber electric furnace
(China). The higher heating value (HHV) was determined using
an oxygen bomb calorimeter (SUNDY SDACM5000, China) from
three replicates. The amounts of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin
were obtained using Van Soest detergent fiber analysis by
automated fiber extraction analyzer (Gerhardt fibretherm FT12,
Germany). Protein was calculated by multiplying the concentration
of organic nitrogen by 6.25. Forces and displacement curves in pel-
letization were recorded to calculate the energy consumption. The
energy consumptions associated with compaction and extrusion
were obtained by integrating the curve. Pellet density was deter-
mined by calculating the mass, length, and diameter of pellets.
The volume expansion was calculated by measuring the length
and diameter after storing the pellets inside a sealed bottle at
4 °C for two weeks.
Meyer hardness of pellets was analyzed by the same pellet
press unit with a hemisphere-end rod. The Meyer hardness, Hm,
defined as the applied force divided by the projected indentation
area and was calculated by the following equation [23].

The sludge was obtained from an urban sewage plant with aer-
obic and secondary treatment in Changsha city, Southern China.
Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata (Lamb.) Hook.), camphor (Cin-
namomum camphora (L.) J. Presl) and rice straw (Oryza sativa L.)
were used to represent the class of softwoods, hardwood and grass,
respectively. The elemental and proximate analysis results and
some physicochemical parameters of the samples above were
shown in Table 1.
2.2. Pelletization and characterization of the pellets
The pellets were prepared using a single pellet press unit which
allowed simulation of the pelletizing process in a press channel of a
pellet mill [19–22]. Briefly, a cylinder with 7.00 mm in inside
diameter and 70.00 mm in height with a piston with 6.90 mm in
diameter and 90.00 mm in length was installed for making a single
pellet. The cylinder-piston unit was wrapped by a heating tape
with a thermocouple and a temperature controller to preheat the
inside cylinder to a certain die temperature. In this study, the hole
of the cylinder was filled with approximately 0.8 g sample to make
a single pellet. The sample was pressed by applying a pressure of
83 MPa and held for 30 s. Pure biomass or biomass-sludge mix-
tures with a ratio of 50% were used as the samples. The sample
with 15% moisture content was prepared at 110 °C with the similar
procedure described in a previous publication [23].
The ultimate analysis, proximate analysis, higher heating value,
lignocellulose analysis and protein determination have described
in a previous paper [20]. Briefly, the ultimate analysis of the raw
Hm ¼ F=½pðDh  h Þ
2
ð1Þ
where h is the indentation depth (mm); F is the maximum force
when the pellet is broken (N); and D is the diameter of rod (mm).
The moisture absorption of pellets was measured in a humidity
chamber (GT-TH-S-150Z, Gaotian, China) setting at 30 °C and 90%
relative humidity. Prior to the moisture uptake test, the pellets
were dried in a convection oven at 105 °C for 24 h. The weight of
the sample was measured every 10 min at the first hours followed
by every 30 min for the next 4 h. Thin-layer drying formulation as
below was adapted for the kinetic analysis of moisture uptake [24].
M  Me
¼ ekt ð2Þ
Mi  Me
where M is the instantaneous moisture content, Me is the equilib-
rium moisture content, and Mi is the initial moisture content. The
coefficient k is the absorption constant, and t is the exposure time
(min).
Combustion characterization of the pellets was carried out by
thermogravimetric analysis using a thermo-balance DTG-60
(Shimadzu, Japan). All combustion experiments were conducted
from room temperature to 800 °C with a heating rate of
20 °C min1 under an air flux of 100 mL min1. Approximately
6 mg of sample was used for each experiment.
2.3. SEM and UV-AF
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Ultraviolet
auto-fluorescence (UV-AF) were applied to study the bonding

Table 1
Properties of raw sewage sludge and biomass sample.

Analysis Ultimate analysis (d.b. wt%) Proximate analysis (r.b. wt%) Chemical analysis (d.b. wt%) HHV (MJ kg1)
C H N S Moisture Volatile Fixed carbon Ash Protein Hemicellulose Cellulose Lignin
b b
Sludge 36.11 5.25 6.50 1.03 5.42 57.22 6.09 31.27 35.5 – – –b 15.59
Chinese fir 49.08 5.96 0.63 –a 7.63 74.49 16.68 1.20 –b 12.05 36.22 27.61 18.38
Camphor 48.18 6.09 0.70 –a 6.67 79.02 12.53 1.78 –b 20.82 38.87 24.40 18.40
Rice straw 45.04 5.05 1.06 –a 6.56 64.59 13.51 15.34 –b 24.60 41.33 9.22 14.64

d.b. - dry basis, r.b. - received basis.

a
Below detection limit.
b
Not measured.
 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515
mechanism of the prepared pellets by fracture surface analysis.
Electron micrographs were recorded using a tabletop microscope
(TM3000, Hitachi Company, Japan) operated at 5–15 kV. UV-AF
(TE300+Pentamax512EFT, Japan) images of pellet fractured surface
were obtained to identify the natural binders that coated on the
particles [12].
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Energy consumption
There are two energy consumption processes associated with
single pellet producing: compression energy consumption and
extrusion energy consumption. The compression and extrusion
energy consumptions for Chinese fir pellet (CFP), Chinese fir-SS
pellet (CFSP), camphor pellet (CP), camphor-SS pellet (CSP), rice
straw pellet (RSP) and rice straw-SS pellet (RSSP) were depicted
in Table 2. Compression and extrusion energy consumptions of
pure biomass pellets were in the following order: CFP > CP > RSP.
It indicated that the energy input in pelletization significantly
depended on the biomass materials and the grass materials needed
less energy consumption. Furthermore, it was found that the
energy consumption of pure biomass pellets was inversely propor-
tional to the content of hemicelluloses in raw biomass. Hemicellu-
loses are the visco-elastic components of wood fiber, which is
different from the crystalline structure of cellulose and the amor-
phous structure of lignin. Therefore, hemicelluloses can introduce
viscous effect among lignin and cellulose in the fiber [24,25]. The
presence of hemicelluloses can reduce the elasticity of particle,
and consequently increase the plasticity. In this study, elasticity
was defined as the resilience characteristics caused by water-
insoluble fibers which may entangle and fold between particles
or fibers. Plasticity was defined as the viscosity of water-soluble
fibers, lignin, protein, starch, fat, and water-soluble carbohydrates.
As shown in Table 2, more energy was needed to make pellets
from pure biomass runs than the biomass-sludge mixing runs at
the same condition (83 MPa, 110 °C and 15% moisture content).
The compression and extrusion energy for CFSP were 9.8 kJ kg1
and 0.013 kJ kg1, which were much lower than those of CFP
(20.4 kJ kg1, 0.084 kJ kg1). The addition of sludge in the saw-
dust/straw can significantly reduce the compression energy, which
may be caused by the smaller fines packing region and the reduced
elasticity of material. Two stages are involved during compression
process. The Region I represented the region where the large and
small particles were rearranged. The Region II was the plasticiza-
tion phase of condensed chemical components (e.g., lignin, protein
and carbohydrate) and the second compression phase of the non-
modified chemical components (e.g., cellulose), which occurred
deformation and mechanical interlocking [25]. After the rearrange-
ment of large and small particles, the space between the particles
was efficiently filled. Additional force could lead to the initial com-
pressing phase of particles where the new structure of condensed
chemical components (e.g., lignin, protein and carbohydrate)
Table 2
Energy consumptions, Meyer hardness, volume expansion and moisture absorption of raw biomass pellets and their corresponding sludge mixed pellets.
Sample Compression energy Extrusion energy Meyer hardness
(kJ kg1) (kJ kg1) (N mm2)
CFP 20.4 ± 0.7 0.082 ± 0.009 3.02 ± 0.60
CFSP 9.8 ± 0.3 0.013 ± 0.002 4.15 ± 0.38
CP 18.6 ± 0.3 0.059 ± 0.023 2.87 ± 0.70
CSP 9.8 ± 0.2 0.011 ± 0.001 4.03 ± 0.64
RSP 13.1 ± 0.5 0.028 ± 0.006 3.98 ± 0.16
RSSP 7.2 ± 0.2 0.004 ± 0.001 4.18 ± 0.06
511
undergoes plasticization. The compression force was initially low
for a displacement of 20–40 mm in Region I followed by a rapid
increase over a relatively short displacement of 5–10 mm in Region
II. As shown in Fig. 1, the slopes of the force and displacement in
Region II were enhanced with the addition of sludge. Furthermore,
the pure biomass runs experienced a larger elastic compression
than the mixing runs. This might be due to the replacement of bio-
mass with the same amount of sludge which decreased the elastic-
ity modulus of material. On the other hand, the protein in sludge
had a synergistic effect with the lignin in biomass [20], thus
increasing the plasticity of mixed sample during pelletization.
Under the applied pressure and heat, the natural binders (e.g., pro-
tein, carbohydrate and lignin, etc.) would be squeezed out of the
particles and activated, resulting in the decrement of energy con-
sumption during the compression and extrusion [12]. It was indi-
cated that co-pelletization of sludge and biomass could conduct
at low pressure and low temperature compared with pure biomass
runs [20]. In a word, the sludge used for co-pelletization would
reduce the energy-input cost of pellet production in the plant.
3.2. Meyer hardness
The typical breaking force against distance of pure biomass pel-
lets and biomass-sludge mixed pellets are depicted in Fig. 2. The
average value and standard deviation of Meyer hardness for all
the pellets are presented in Table 2. As shown in Fig. 2, the force
and deformation which pellets could withstand were larger after
adding the sludge. Meyer hardness is one of the important proper-
ties of single pellet study, which reflects the strength of pellets dur-
ing handling, transportation, and storage. As shown in Table 2, the
hardness of biomass-sludge mixed pellets was increased compared
with that of pure biomass pellets, such as CFP (3.02 N mm2) and
CFSP (4.15 N mm2). The improvement of hardness for biomass-
sludge mixed pellets was ascribed to the synergistic effect of pro-
tein in the sludge and lignin in the biomass [20]. The UV-AF images
of pellets (Fig. 3) indicated that the natural binders that were
coated on the particles in the sludge-biomass mixed pellets were
primarily lignin and protein [12]. Several studies demonstrated
that protein played an important role as binding agents
[12,26,27]. Protein denaturation temperature was around 57 °C,
while the lignin softening temperature ranged from 50 to 100 °C
[28,29]. In the present study, the natural binding components were
squeezed out of the biomass cells under pressure. After then, lignin
and protein were soften or denature in the die temperature
(110 °C), improving the structure of hydrogen bonding and solid
bridge between micro-particles of biomass or sludge [12]. The
low hardness of biomass pellet may indicate the existence of pore
spaces and gaps in the pellet which reduces the pellet resistance to
deformation. This is confirmed by comparing camphor pellet and
camphor-sludge pellet through cross section SEM micrographs
(Fig. 3c and d), in which clear gaps and spaces were identified in
camphor pellets.
It was found that several fines (about 1.25%) were separated
from the surface of pure biomass pellets after two-week storage,
Volume expansion Equilibrium moisture Absorption rate, k
(%) content (%) (min1)
1.33 ± 0.28 15.9 ± 0.5 0.0081
0.37 ± 0.19 15.8 ± 0.2 0.0054
1.34 ± 0.29 16.7 ± 0.4 0.0071
0.57 ± 0.31 16.2 ± 0.2 0.0050
1.27 ± 0.41 23.2 ± 0.3 0.0041
0.31 ± 0.14 19.6 ± 0.1 0.0037
512 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515
Fig. 1. Typical force versus displacement graph for pelletization: (1) Chinese fir
pellet, (2) camphor pellet, (3) rice straw pellet, (4) fir and sludge pellet, (5) camphor
and sludge pellet, (6) straw and sludge pellet.
Fig. 2. Breaking force versus distance graph: (1) Chinese fir pellet, (2) camphor
pellet, (3) rice straw pellet, (4) fir and sludge pellet, (5) camphor and sludge pellet,
(6) straw and sludge pellet.
resulting in the coarser surface of pellets. The elastic recovery of
raw biomass particles and the weak bonding within pure biomass
pellets were contributed to this phenomenon. The initial volumes
of biomass-sludge pellets and biomass pellets were range from
650 to 820 mm3. The volume expansion after two-week storage
was presented in Table 2. All pellets had a distinct expansion which
indicated that the elasticity had been generated among particles
during the storage. As depicted in Table 2, the volume expansion
of biomass-sludge mixed pellets was much lower than that of pure
biomass pellets. The higher volume expansion indicated the com-
pression deformation of the particles was not entirely plastic.
Both Meyer hardness and volume expansion reflect the bonding
activity within particles and the mechanical strength. The lower
hardness and higher volume expansion of pure biomass pellets
may indicate the existence of pore spaces and gaps in the pellet,
which reduces the pellet resistance to relative movement. In
Fig. 3, it can be seen that the cross section of biomass-sludge mixed
pellets was uniform without obvious void spaces which were iden-
tified in pure biomass pellets. Those gaps and spaces would reduce
the resistance of pellet to the deformation and promote the relative
movement of the particles within the pellet matrix, resulting in
weak mechanical durability [23,30].
3.3. Moisture adsorption
Fig. 4 depicted the typical moisture adsorption process of pel-
lets versus time during moisture uptake in the humidity chamber
controlled at 30 °C and 90% RH. The pure biomass pellets exhibited
higher moisture uptake than biomass-sludge mixed pellets. This
could be confirmed from the absorption rate (k) value which was
an absorption constant modeled through the thin-layer drying for-
mulation. As shown in Table 2, the absorption rate of pure biomass
pellets was significantly higher than that of biomass-sludge mixed
pellets. Hemicelluloses are rich of hydroxyl groups which are the
main groups for water uptaking. The moisture absorption for
sludge mixed pellets was decreased as the addition of sludge
instead of lignocelluloses. Meanwhile, fat in the sludge (8.56%)
was squeezed out and flowed to the surface of biomass-sludge
mixed pellets. The hydrophobic fat coated on the pellet surface
could slow further down the moisture absorption rate.
Equilibrium moisture contents (Me) of pellets were calculated
after being exposed in the humidity chamber over 48 h. As pre-
sented in Table 2, the Me of CFP and CP was similar to that of CFSP
and CSP. However, the Me of RSP was higher than RSSP. It is mainly
ascribed to the moisture absorption characteristic of raw materials.
The Me of fir, camphor, straw and sludge was 11.85%, 13.07%,
18.88% and 12.08%, respectively. It was obvious that the moisture
uptake of straw was much higher than that of the others. The hemi-
cellulose contents in raw materials were considered as the main
reason, which affected the moisture absorption ability of raw mate-
rials. Attention should be paid to the lower absorption rate but
higher Me of RSP and RSSP compared with CFP, CFSP, CP and CSP.
The lower absorption rate (k) of RSP and RSSP might be caused by
the presence of waxes in straw that would diffuse to the pellet sur-
face, thus resisting the moisture absorption [28]. The higher Me of
RSP and RSSP was ascribed to the higher content of hydrophilic
hemicelluloses [31] and the lower content of hydrophobic lignin
[32] in rice straw. As shown in Table 1, the content of hemicellu-
loses in rice straw was 24.60 wt% which was higher than the values
of Chinese fir and camphor. While the content of lignin in rice straw
was 9.22 wt% which was much lower than the values of Chinese fir
(27.61 wt%) and camphor (24.40 wt%).
3.4. Combustion characteristics
The proximate analyses of pure biomass pellets and biomass-
sludge mixed pellets are shown in Table 3. It was found that the
biomass-sludge mixed pellets had improved fuel quality than pure
biomass pellets, such as reduced volatile matter, increased fixed
carbon and energy density. The reduced volatile matter and
increased fixed carbon can facilitate a stable combustion. However,
the ash content of biomass-sludge mixed pellets was much higher
than pure biomass pellets as the high content of ash in sludge
(31.27%). These results indicated that there was a balance between
an improvement in fuel quality and an increase in ash content.
Results of the TGA analysis are shown in Figs. 5 and 6, in which
the TG, DTG and DTA curves are reported for the biomass pellets
and their corresponding biomass-sludge mixed pellets as a func-
tion of temperature. As depicted in Fig. 5, four typical combustion
stages are apparent including the dewatering period (A), volatiliza-
tion and burning (B), char burning (C) and burnout (D) [33]. From
the curves, it can be seen that an initial mass loss (stage A)
occurred below 105 °C for all samples which caused by moisture
loss. After then, the pellets experienced two-step mass losses
(stages B and C). As shown in the DTG curves, the mass loss in stage
 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515 513

Fig. 3. UV-Auto-Fluorescence (UV-AF) images and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of cross-sections of pellets. The green or yellow-green fluorescence represents
protein compounds. The brilliant blue or bluish-white fluorescence represents lignin. No fluorescence (i.e., black color) may represent cellulose, hemicellulose, starch, water
soluble carbohydrates, and lipid/fat. (a and c) Camphor pellet, (b and d) camphor and sludge pellet. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the
reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Fig. 4. Moisture absorption of raw biomass pellets and sludge-biomass pellets. All
pellets were dried at 105 °C for 48 h before being placed in the humidity chamber
set at 30 °C and 90% RH.
B was the main mass loss occurred for biomass pellets due to the
release and burning of volatiles. However, the combustion of
biomass-sludge mixed pellets operated at a more stable way as
the similar mass loss in stage B and stage C. This can be confirmed
by the DTA curves which indicate the detection of thermal effects
accompanied by physical or chemical changes [34]. As shown in
Fig. 6, the DTA curves of biomass-sludge mixed pellets have two
clear thermopositive peaks for volatile burning and char burning.
However, the thermopositive effects of biomass pellets are mainly
from volatile burning at low temperature. Therefore, DTA curves
could explicitly indicate that the combustion of biomass-sludge
mixed pellets operated at a more stable way as the higher ther-
mopositive peaks in stage C.
The characteristic combustion parameters of the pellets are
summarized in Table 4. The ignition temperature was estimated
from the TG and DTG curves according to the method reported
on the literature [14,35]. The final combustion temperature was
defined as the temperature that 99% of the combustible material
has been burnt out [14]. It was clear shown in Table 4 that the
biomass-sludge mixed pellets had improved fuel quality than pure
biomass pellets, such as reduced ignition temperature (except

Table 3
Proximate analysis, pellet and energy densities of raw biomass pellets and their corresponding sludge mixed pellets.

Sample Moisture (%) Volatile matter (%) Fixed carbon (%) Ash (%) Pellet density (kg m3) HHV (MJ kg1) Energy density (GJ m3)
CFP 12.59 71.59 14.67 1.15 863 ± 21 18.96 16.36
CFSP 12.61 54.30 18.25 14.84 1160 ± 5 17.54 20.35
CP 12.57 73.56 12.03 1.84 883 ± 12 18.87 16.66
CSP 12.27 55.88 16.70 15.15 1144 ± 7 17.50 20.02
RSP 11.17 63.49 11.02 14.31 1027 ± 7 15.04 15.45
RSSP 12.23 51.26 15.10 21.41 1217 ± 11 15.32 18.64
514 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515

Fig. 6. DTA curves of raw biomass pellets and sludge mixed pellets.

inversely proportional to the temperature value at the maximum

weight loss rate [30], biomass-sludge mixed pellets had lower
reactivities compared to pure biomass pellets. Furthermore, the
decreased maximum weight loss rates and the increased final tem-
peratures indicated that the biomass-sludge mixed pellets com-
busted in a more moderate way than biomass pellets [30].
However, the residues of biomass-sludge mixed pellets were much
higher than biomass pellets. Obernberger and Thek reported that
high ash content in the pellets might be acceptable if the pellets
are destined for industrial use [36]. As the industrial combustion
systems had a greater robustness and sophistication compared to
domestic heating systems [36]. Therefore, the biomass-sludge
mixed pellets which had higher values of residue content than bio-
mass pellets could be applied for industrial use.

4. Conclusions

The addition of sludge in the biomass can significantly reduce

Fig. 5. TG and DTG curves of raw biomass pellets and sludge mixed pellets.
RSSP), decreased maximum weight loss rate, increased final com-
bustion temperature and enhanced temperature at maximum
weight loss rate. Taking into consideration that the reactivity is
energy input associated with compression and extrusion. As the
synergistic effect of protein in the sludge and lignin in the biomass,
the breaking force and Meyer hardness of sludge mixed pellets
were much higher than biomass pellets. It is significant to reduce
dust formation during transportation and storage. In the case of
moisture absorption, biomass-sludge mixed pellets had lower
absorption rate compared with biomass pellets as the presence
of fat in sludge. Moreover, the sludge mixed pellets had improved
combustion characteristics than raw biomass pellets: reduced igni-
tion temperature (except RSSP), decreased maximum weight loss
rate, increased final combustion temperature and enhanced tem-
perature at maximum weight loss rate. The increased hardness
and improved combustion characteristics suggested that sludge
mixed pellets were better than biomass pellets in this study.

Table 4
The characteristic combustion parameters of raw biomass pellets and their corresponding sludge mixed pellets.

Pellet sample Ignition temperature Final combustion temperature Temperature at maximum weight loss rate Maximum weight loss rate Residue
(°C) (°C) (°C) (% s1) (%)
CFP 310 531 351 0.69 1.06
CFSP 298 660 492 0.28 15.53
CP 295 569 343 1.29 1.26
CSP 249 530 476 0.37 13.22
RSP 255 469 303 1.61 11.93
RSSP 276 702 301 0.27 21.20
 L. Jiang et al. / Energy Conversion and Management 126 (2016) 509–515
Acknowledgement
The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-
vided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos.
51521006, 21276069, 71431006 and 51479072), the Specialized
Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (No.
20120161130002).
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