The Particle Size Influence in the High Heating Value (HHV) of Sugarcane Trash
Biomass is a resource type that is present worldwide. The demand for sugarcane coupled with soil, climate and territorial conditions make Brazil the largest producer of sugarcane in the world. Then, there is a large amount of waste from this culture, approximately 14 to 18% of sugarcane straw. The waste of sugarcane culture includes green leaves, dried leaves and tops. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of storage time and particle size in sugarcane trash. It was analyzed the ash content and high heating value (HHV) for energy purposes. The treatments were based on: the position of the bale (inner and surface), the storage time (0, 1 and 2 years) and the particle size (> 0.420mm, 0.250-0.420mm and < 0.250mm). The results showed a behavior that the higher amount of ashes were observed in smaller particle size. The values for ash content varied from 2.16% (particles >0,420mm) to 12.72% (particles <0,250mm). These results were considered high for solid biofuel production. It was expected that the higher ash content resulted the lower HHV. The results for HHV were 15.93 MJ.kg-1 (particles <0,250mm) to 18.32 MJ.kg-1 (particles >0,420mm) for high heating value. The results for HHV did not showed statistical difference between the treatments. The particle size affects the results and should be chosen carefully according to the test purpose.