Mechanical disintegration of wheat straw using a roller-plate grinding system with sharp-edged segments

Abstract

Colloid mills and extruders are widely used for disintegrating wet fibrous biomass. However, their main disadvantages are a high energy requirement in the range of hundreds or thousands of kWh per ton of material, and the fact that they grind in process cycles. Efforts have therefore been made to design a new type of continuously operated grinder. Its disintegration principle uses a roller-plate grinding system with sharp-edged segments, where the compressive and shear forces combine to comminute the particles. Test experiments verified that the grinder disintegrates wet untreated straw to particles below 10mm in an effective manner in a single pass, with an energy requirement of 50 kWht−1 TS. A 23% increase in biogas yield was achieved, leading to a net gain in electric energy of 310 kWht−1 TS.