Journal of Chemical Engineering & Process Technology
Open Access

Abstract

Estimation of Production and Energy Consumption in Woody Biomass Pulverization Using a Multiple Tube Vibration Mill

Nobusuke Kobayashi and Yoshinori Itaya

The evaluation of the scale-up potential of woody biomass pulverization using a newly developed multiple tube vibration mill (MTVM) was performed. The pulverization ability of a large MTVM was estimated based on the results of a laboratory-scale pulverization experiment. The pulverization pot arrangement was investigated, and the optimum pulverization conditions for woody biomass in MTVM were calculated in terms of the yield of wood powder and energy consumption. The pulverization performance of MTVM was compared to that of a conventional single tube vibration mill, where MTVM is shown to have higher productivity for a given energy consumption, and has the ability of producing high yields with larger pot sizes. Applying the stage grinding method, low-crystallinity wood powder (crystallinity index of cellulose <10%) can be produced around 1.2 t/h with an energy consumption of 1.0 GJ/t-product with an industrial-scale MTVM. The total energy consumption in the woody biomass pulverization process including coarse, middle, and fine grindings is 1.48 GJ/t-product.