Study of physicochemical feasibility for use of biomass Pennisetum pupureum Schum
Lucas Palmoni Medeiros Dantas1; Alvaro Henrique Lisboa Alécio1; Christiano Santos Rolim Filho1; KARLA MIRANDA BARCELLOS1
1 Universidade Federal de Alagoas
doi:10.20906/CPS/COB-2015-0968
Resumo
Biomass is any renewable natural resource that comes from organic matter and, more recently, technologies are developing a better energy yield of biomass. Organic biomass molecules contain energy stored in their susceptible bonds in conversion processes, as photosynthesis that transforms solar energy into useful energy that can be converted directly through thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis, combustion, gasification or liquefaction. The elephant grass, whose scientific name is Pennisetum pupureum Schum, is a biomass worth mentioning, because it is a plant with high biomass production capacity, combined with others essentials qualities to be used as an alternative source of energy, such as fibers, lignin and high ration Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N). The elephant grass have the additional advantage of being a faster growth than important biomass for energy production such as sugarcane and eucalyptus, also it is more resistant in nutrient-poor soils. Each hectare planted with elephant grass generates an average of 40 tons of dry biomass that become energy, this number is 100% higher than sugarcane and 167% higher than the eucalyptus. The elephant grass is also ahead in the waiting time until the harvest. Six months after the planting, it is ready to be harvested and the removal of the plant can be made twice a year. Because of this superiority and easily production of the elephant grass, were analyzed this biomass for energy purposes. This paper proposes an evaluation of the physical and chemical properties of biomass elephant grass, therefore, were made analysis in the laboratory to determine its characteristics through standard methods made by ASTM(American Society for test and materials), how moisture content, volatile content, ash content, fixed carbon, upper and lower calorific value. The results obtained from the analysis in specific laboratories showed satisfactory for the purpose of the study, besides being a natural raw material and easy to purchase regionally, elephant grass shown a great alternative ene
Palavras-chave: elephant grass; biomass; calorific value