Handling properties of sugarcane bagasse I. Characterization of bagasse particles

Sugarcane bagasse is used extensively in the cane sugar industry as a fuel source for steam generation. It is also used for the manufacture of a number of products like pulp and paper, particle board, speciality chemicals and animal feeds. As a particulate medium it is very difficult to handle. Its fibrous composition gives rise to chokes at transfer points of conveyor systems and in feed chutes to mills and boilers. The chokes occur as a result of a phenomenon called bridging by which stable structural entities are formed within the material. A study was undertaken to identify some of the main causes of bridging with a view to providing design information to reduce the occurrence of chokes. The present article is part of a series of three in which the results of the study are summarized. This article deals with a methodical approach to characterizing the particle properties of bagasse. It considers the problems associated with determining the average size of bagasse particles and how their shapes can be quantified. It describes the sieving technique used to fractionate bagasse, as well as a repeatable method of dividing a sample into smaller portions. It also deals with incorporating the length of fibres into a composite figure called the mean fibre length. A measure, which the author calls the coarse-fine ratio, expresses numerically the proportion of fine pith particles relative to the longer fibres.