Possibilities for utilization of tobacco stems for production of energetic briquettes

Abstract

Tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) belongs to the group of plants that produce agricultural raw material. Besides leaves, which are used to satisfy the passion for smoking, tobacco can be used for producing oil and biodiesel, because it contains 30-40% of vegetable oil. Because of its content of citric acid, tobacco can be used for production of dyes and varnishes. Seed cake contains high percentage of proteins (35-44%) and can be used as livestock feed. Because of the high contents of lignin (40-45%) and cellulose (28-40%), tobacco stems can be used for production of energy briquettes, which makes tobacco obtain a new usability value. The aim of the experimental researches presented in this paper is to define the possibilities for production of briquettes from tobacco stems and wood raw material and to evaluate the impact of this kind of raw material on briquettes properties. For this purpose five models were made: O-control model: 100% wood raw material (BW); model T-I - 25% tobacco stems (TS) : 75% BW; model T-II - 50% TS : 50% BW; model T-III - 75% TS : 25% BW and model T-IV - 100% TS. The results of the research show that density of the briquettes is within the limits of 526.61 kg/m3 for model T-IV, to 782.73 kg/m3 for control model-O. The ash content is a little lower than the standard values and it ranges from 0.32% for O-control model, to 2.17% for model T-IV. The sulphur content is much below permissible content (0.08%), and it ranges from 0.003 to 0.008%. These briquettes, according to the low calorific value are classified in II and I class. In the smoke of the burned briquettes, minimal quantity (0.005%) of nicotine is identified.Duvan (Nicotiana tabacum L.) pripada grupi biljaka koje proizvode takozvanu drugostepenu poljoprivrednu sirovinu. Od duvana osim lisca, koje se koristi radi zadovoljavanja strasti pusaca, moze da se koristi i njegovo seme za dobijanje ulja i biodizela, jer ono sadrzi 30-40% biljnog ulja, a zbog toga sto sadrzi i limunsku kiselinu ono moze da se koristi i za proizvodnju boja i lakova. Semenska pogaca, zbog visokog sadrzaja proteina (35-44%) moze se koristiti i za stocnu hranu. Radi visokog sadrazja lignina (40-45%) i celuloze (28-40%) duvansko stablo moze se koristiti i za proizvodnju energetskih briketa cime se daje nova upotrebna vrednost duvana. Cilj eksperimentalnih istrazivanja je da se definisu mogucnosti proizvodnje briketa od duvanskih stabala i drvne sirovine i da se prouci nihov uticaj na svojstava briketa. Za ostvarenje tog cilja uradjena su 5 modela: O-kontrola: 100% drvne sirovine (BW); model T-I - 25% duvanska stabla (TS) : 75% BW; model T-II - 50%TS : 50%BW; model T-III - 75% TS : 25% BW i model T-IV - 100% TS. Rezultati istrazivanja pokazali su da se zapreminska masa briketa krece od 526,61 kg/m3 kod T-IV do 782,73 kg/m3 kod O-kontrola sa 200 bari (20 MN/m2) specificnog pritiska pri briketiranju. Sadrzaj pepela je iznad standarda i krece se od 0,32% kod O-kontrola do 2,17% kod T-IV. Sumpor je mnogo ispod dozvoljenog sadrzaja (0,08%), a krece se u granicama od 0,003 do 0,008%. Ove brikete, prema vrednosti donje toplotne moci se rangiraju u II i I klasu. U dimu pri sagorevanju briketa utvrdjena je minimalna (0,005%) kolicina nikotina.