Chemical Characterization of Sugarcane Straw for Bioenergy Purposes
The use of biomass resources in order to generate energy has been increasing as a renewable alternative, foremost because of their appealing properties. In Brazil, one of the most important crops that is cultivating is sugarcane, mainly in São Paulo State. Recently, Law 11,241/02 prohibits the utilization of fire to eliminate sugarcane straw during harvest process. The sugarcane straw has been searching to apply in the energy production. The present study is aimed on the influence of storage time in the chemical characterization of sugarcane straw to determine its potential to be applied as a sustainable fuel. Three treatments were analyzed: T1 â no storage time; T2 â 1 year storaged; T3 â 2 years storaged. The material was separated according to particle size (<425µm). The analyses involved particle size distribution, density determination, proximate analysis and chemical analysis to estimate extractives, lignin, holocellulose, α-cellulose and hemicellulose content. For sugarcane straw, it was obtained density of 0,08603 g/cm3 before the mill process. The redults for proximate analysis were 74,77% (T1), 72,11% (T2) and 73,39% (T3). The ash content was 8,98% (T1), 7,93% (T2) and 7,02% (T3). The high ash content in T1 (8,98%) resulted in lower fixed carbon 16,25%. The total extractives were 18,02% (T1), 22,23% (T2) and 23,43% (T3). Klason lignin content were 32,06% (T1), 39,65% (T2) and 40,01% (T3). The hollocelulose content is essential to obtain α-cellulose and hemicellulose concentration. The hollocelulose content was 74,41% (T1), 72,45% (T2) and 73,91% (T3). The α-cellulose and hemicellulose content were 62,23% (T1), 55,58% (T2) and 59,53% (T3) for α-cellulose and 12,7% (T1), 16,82% (T2) and 14,61% (T3) for hemicellulose. It was possible to realize that storage time influences in the chemical properties of sugarcane straw, mainly ash content, which is related to minerals content in the sugarcane straw and contaminants from harvest process.