Nestor Proenza Pérez
São Paulo State University, Brazil
Title: Characterization of sugarcane bagasse produced in the central region of São Paulo state in Brazil
Biography
Biography: Nestor Proenza Pérez
Abstract
The sugarcane bagasse characterization is an essential issue for the adequate design and implementation of fluidized bed technologies, that use this biomass as feedstock. This work presents the determination of the main physical, chemical and geometrical properties of bagasse particles of sugarcane collected at the central region of São Paulo in Brazil. The characterization techniques used, were the commonly used for other particles. The granulometric characterization was made by sieve techniques; the determined characteristic mean diameter for this biomass was 0.722 mm. Also was carried out the proximate analysis, for determining the content of moisture, ash, volatile matter and fixed carbon. In the case of the ash content, the obtained value was 3.56 ± 0.82 %; slightly higher than values previously reported by others authors. The gross calorific value and the real, apparent and bulk densities were determined. The geometric characterization was made through two important factors: the aspect ratio (AR) and sphericity. The shapes of the particles was studied by manual and through images analysis method, using the ImageJ software. Was observed that sugarcane bagasse particles have a larger length than the others analyzed biomasses with almost a similar width. The aspect ratio was in the range of 3.922±2.736. For particles with diameters lower than 0.3 mm, the aspect ratio have a similar comportment than the others biomasses with a reporter value of 2.5. The obtained sphericity for the sugarcane bagasse was 0.397.