Wood waste pellets from sustainable forest management in the Amazon as an energy source

Abstract

Waste from sustainable management activities in Amazonia can be an important source of biomass for energy generation. This study aimed to investigate the production and characteristics of pellets manufactured from residual biomass of the species Dinizia excelsa, Parkia spp., and Licania canescens. The pellets were produced separately by species in a laboratory pelletizer with a production capacity of 30 kg h-1 and a matrix diameter of 6 mm. A total of 1.5 kg of homogeneous pellets was produced for each type of biomass. The pellets were evaluated according to their physical and energetic properties. The physical and energetic properties varied between the waste analyzed (4884 kcal kg-1 for D. excelsa and 4650 kcal kg-1 for Parkia spp.). Greater emphasis should be placed on pellets produced with 100DE, which presented higher values of fixed carbon (20.7%), bulk density (692.55 kg m-3) and low ash content (0.30%).