Bioenergy

Baler Testing

Moisture Content of Baled Forest and Urban Woody Biomass During Long-Term Open Storage

Abstract This article describes how the moisture content of baled woody biomass varied during long-term open-air storage under conditions in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. Large rectangular bales of forest and urban biomass were produced beginning in August 2015 and periodically until June 2016. Weights were measured approximately monthly until the entire

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Belt Dryer

Forest Concepts Receives $1.8 million from DOE to Improve the Design of Biomass Handling Systems

AUBURN, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES, June 21, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ — Forest Concepts LLC has been awarded a $1.8 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Bioenergy Technologies Office to address the critical issues of poor flowability, high friction, and highly variable physical properties that have plagued the biomass industry. Biomass materials have a wide

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Forest Concepts Staff with Baler

Work Element Time Study of a Prototype for Baling Forest Residual Biomass into Large Rectangular Bales

Abstract  The productivity of forest biomass collection equipment is highly dependent on site conditions, spatial distribution of biomass, operator skill, and functional design of the equipment used. A prototype woody biomass baler was used to produce large rectangular bales of woody biomass. Rectangular bales enable high payloads during transport and efficient storage at centralized processing

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Crumbler M24ci

Forest Concepts Receives 2017 AE50 Award for Innovation In Biomass Feedstock Processing

AE50 awards honor the year’s most innovative designs in engineering products or systems for the food and agriculture industries. Forest Concepts’ Crumbler® M24ci Chipmuncher™ will be featured in the January/February 2017 special issue of ASABE’s magazine Resource: Engineering & Technology for a Sustainable World. For more details visit www.asabe.org/AE50 Forest Concepts’ Chief Technology Officer Jim

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Biomass Baling

Conceptual Specification of Forest Residues Balers using the Appreciative Design Method

Abstract  Baling of fine forest residuals such as tops, branches, and thinnings is expected to reduce the cost of collection, transport, and processing. Baling may enable economical access to currently stranded biomass resources that are inaccessible to large in-woods grinders and specialized chip hauling vehicles. The technical feasibility of baling logging slash branches and tops

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Crumbles with Hand

Shear Processing of Wood Chips into Feedstock Particles

Abstract We have an objective to convert cellulosic biomass raw materials into small particles that are optimized for biochemical and/or thermochemical conversion to liquid transportation fuels. As a side effort, we are interested in producing feedstocks for composite bioproducts, solid biofuels, and other uses. Wood chips that have a typical length of 50mm are a

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Motor mount swing, torque arm, and force transducer

Torque-Arm Method to Measure Specific Energy in Laboratory Scale Biomass Preprocessing Equipment

Abstract  Specific energy for comminution and mechanical processing of lignocellulosic feedstocks provides an economically important basis to compare equipment and to provide data for lifecycle analysis of complete systems. Measurement of specific energy during equipment design and development activities enables optimization of design parameters. Forest Concepts developed a torque-arm apparatus and LabView data acquisition method

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Crushed Roundwood

Modeling Energy Consumption for Crushing of Roundwood as a First Stage of Feedstock Preparation

Abstract  Our objective is to apply an understanding of the modes of failure and structural biology to substantially reduce the comminution energy required to produce bioenergy feedstocks. This paper explores the modes of failure for wood materials subject to crushing forces and how they could be used to develop a mathematical model of crushing forces

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Poplar Crumbles

Protocol for Assessing Particle Shape of Comminuted Biomass

Abstract  Particle shape is increasingly important as a quality parameter for comminuted biomass. Shape affects flowability, pretreatment, rate of conversion, and performance of materials handling systems. This protocol applies to materials that have been subjected to commutation processes including but not limited to chunking, chipping, grinding or milling. Our objective is to enable a uniform

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