Production and characterization of fuel pellets from rice husk and wheat straw

In this work, the production and characterization of pellets made from rice husks and wheat straws is presented. For this, physicochemical and energetic characterization of pellets produced with rice husks and mixtures of rice husks with wheat straws were carried out, followed by a comparison with those properties stablished by the ISO 17225-6 standard. The rice husk pellets exhibited the lowest calorific value (3090.64-4049.05 kcal/g) and highest ash content (12.81-17.51%), while the pellets made from mixtures obtained the highest calorific power (4301.10-4573.50 kcal/g) and a reduced amount of ashes (11.43-13.06%). Moreover, the pellets produced with both biomasses exceed the moisture, ashes and nitrogen content, but complied with diameter, length and durability components. These results suggest that these biomasses blends improve the quality and combustion characteristics of the pellets, aiming to enhance the research for the manufacturing of these sustainable biofuels. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.