modeling biomass pile management

Modeling Biomass Piles for Pile Management

Wasim Faizal, E.I.T., M.Eng

Team

Dr. Suzanne Wetzel,NRCan, Canadian Wood Fibre Center,suzanne.wetzel@canada.ca

Prof. Sally Krigstin, UofT, Department of Forestrysally.krigstin@utoronto.ca

Janet Damianopoulos, NRCan, Canadian Wood Fibre Centerjanet.damianopoulos@mail.utoronto.ca

Wasim Faizal, NRCan, Canadian Wood Fibre Centerwasim.mohamedfaizal@gmail.com

What is pile management?

Nobody Really Knows

Why Do We Need It?

Build up of heat within a pileCan lead to localized fires

Want to understand how much CO2 a pile releases Want to know if better storage practices can

improve quality of feed

Picture Reference: https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/Boardroom-Meeting-Suggestion

-30 C

Current Practices

Turning the piles to dissipate heat at fixed periods Random temperature measurements Managing pile geometry Compost Piles: controlling oxygen levels

Why does a pile heat up?

Factors Influencing Heat build up

Biological - bacteria/living woody tissue Chemical - oxidation reactions Physical - evaporation / condensation of water

Can we predict temperature rise within a pile?

Why? To understand when a new pile might get too hotTo know when to release heat

How?Requires knowledge of specific wood properties Requires mathematical models

Application Heat and Mass Transfer concepts

Mass Build up = Mass Flow in – Mass Flow out +/- Reaction

Heat Build up = Heat Flow in – Heat Flow out +/- Reaction

Dispersion of mass through diffusion (Fick’s Law) Dispersion of heat through conduction (Fourier

Law of Heat Conduction)

Reactor Analogy

Mass inMass out

Heat inHeat out

Modeling Biological Growth

Biological growth = Bacteria in – Bacteria out + Rate of Growth -growth factor (sugars)

-bacterial concentrationEquation Reference: F. Ferrero et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 22 (2009) 439-448

Modeling Oxygen Consumption

Heat released per mole of oxygen consumed /6)(1-efficiency)

Equation Reference: F. Ferrero et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 22 (2009) 439-448

Modeling Oxygen Consumption (cont.)

Oxygen consumption is used to predict heat released by bacteria.

( ) - oxycalorific coefficient (heat released per

molecule of oxygen consumed)

Equation Reference: F. Ferrero et al. Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries 22 (2009) 439-448

Why use Oxygen consumption to estimate heat?

Modeling Other Heat Sources

Model the decomposition of wood as a first order chemical reaction

Use the rate of decomposition with the enthalpy of decomposition to determine heat released

Temperature Modeling

Modeling

Impossible to solve analytically Multi-dimensional problem Use COMSOL or MATLAB to determine a

numerical solution set

Current Results

Model Improvement

Add growth limiting factors for bacteriaMoisture content Temperature limitsOxygen content

Collaboration to Monitor Data

Data Expertise: NRCan UofT Equipment Expertise: Braingrid

Monitoring Temperatures

Previous temperature monitoring failedTemperature loggers caught fire

Braingrid provides a wireless sensor monitoring tool Monitor and log data to a remote server Data is accessible from any location

Sentroller

The Sentroller acts as a data hub. It is capable of capturing

information from any sensor Relays that information to a remote

location off-site

Goals

Determine accuracy of the model (other data sets) Work being conducted at PAMI to prepare new

biomass piles Use model to determine best practices for various

biomass types Develop a CSA standard for managing a pile

Summary

It is possible to model biomass conditions Currently working on improving and verifying the

model Enables us to determine practices to increase

efficiency and reduce cost

Questions?