JP7176161B2 - Dry fuel chip manufacturing method and dry fuel chip - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for producing fuel chips including woody fuel chips and fuel chips, and more particularly to a method for producing dried biomass fuel chips and biomass fuel chips.

Examples of conventional biomass fuels are described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 by the present inventor. The one described in Patent Document 1 uses all plants as biomass in order to use plants such as weeds and trees and shrub trunks that naturally grow in parks, streets, road slopes, satoyama, etc. as energy, It is described that after drying this biomass, a part of the biomass that causes the bulkiness of the biomass is pulverized to eliminate the bulkiness, thereby obtaining biomass in a powder-grain mixed state.

In addition, in Patent Document 2, a large heating chamber is provided inside a dome-shaped water tank in order to provide a machine that processes biomass fuel by drying and carbonizing biomass, mainly weeds. A steam pipe and a rotating dry carbonization drum are incorporated in a heating chamber, and a single combustion furnace flame heats the steam pipe and the dry carbonization drum at the same time.

Furthermore, in Patent Document 3, in order to eliminate unevenness in the shape and size of the biomass fuel to be produced and variations in the degree of dryness and carbonization, the processing line is positioned downstream of the discharge part of the rotating drum. , to eliminate unevenness in the shape and size of the biomass fuel to be manufactured.

The present invention improves the biomass fuel and the method for producing biomass fuel described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 above.

Japanese Patent No. 5438090 Japanese Patent No. 5432302 Japanese Patent No. 6130573

The biomass fuel described in Patent Document 1 (hereinafter referred to as the old biomass fuel) is a forest containing branches and leaves of trees including weeds, shrubs, bamboo, bamboo grass, bamboo grass, ivy, cultivated biomass crops, agricultural residue, and thinned wood. Raw material biomass called soft biomass, such as residue (hereinafter collectively referred to as raw material biomass), up to about 3 cm in thickness is simply cut into an arbitrary size.

Then, it is processed into biomass fuel by a biomass fuel production apparatus (hereinafter also referred to as a fuel production apparatus) described in Patent Document 2. This old biomass fuel has been developed as a fuel for heating greenhouses in agriculture, and is generally called "semi-carbonized biomass fuel".

However, in recent years, worldwide efforts have been made to improve and put into practical use production techniques for "semi-carbonized biomass fuel", which has a shape and properties different from those of old biomass fuel.

The semi-carbonized biomass fuel technology, which is being put to practical use on a global scale, is being developed under the leadership of Europe and the United States. Aims to increase volume. Therefore, after carbonizing the entire raw material biomass for target pellets at a temperature of 250 to 300° C., it is processed into semi-carbonized pellets. In Japan, the technology started in Europe and the United States is imported as a basic technology, and the development and practical application of applied technology is underway.

In contrast to this semi-carbonized biomass fuel, the old biomass fuel effectively utilizes a huge amount of undeveloped raw material biomass that exists in Japan, and is processed into biomass fuel by applying traditional Japanese charcoal making technology. To explain in more detail and strictly, in the old biomass fuel, the raw material biomass is not semi-carbonized, but kept in the dry region, and among them, it is in an "overdried" state in which the drying is advanced excessively. The obtained biomass fuel should be called "overdried biomass fuel" and is produced based on the traditional Japanese charcoal making technology.

The basis of the production of old biomass fuel is to simply dry raw biomass that has been cut into arbitrary or predetermined dimensions. At that time, an over-dried state is realized in which drying is excessively advanced.

Even in simple drying, if the total heating amount exceeds a certain amount, the quickly dried leaves and thin branches will burn and char. Conventionally, the old biomass fuel was produced after realizing an overdried state in which drying was stopped at this point. This old biomass fuel manufacturing method is fundamentally different in this respect from the imported semi-carbonization technology for semi-carbonizing the entire raw material biomass.

There are biomass fuel production apparatuses described in Patent Literature 2 and Patent Literature 3 as devices that can continuously and efficiently perform overdrying. These devices have been put into practical use.

As described above, the old biomass fuel is also a kind of semi-carbonized fuel, but the production method is fundamentally different from the above-mentioned semi-carbonized biomass fuel led by Europe and the United States, and the shape of the completed biomass fuel is also different. Old biomass fuels should therefore be clearly reclassified as "overdried biomass fuels".

In order to classify overdried biomass fuel anew, it is necessary to compare it with other conventionally classified biomass fuels. Therefore, the advantages and disadvantages and characteristics of overdried biomass fuel over other biomass fuels are described below. This is a comparison including the new overdried biomass fuel according to the present invention, the details of which will be described later.

The greatest advantage of new and old super-dried biomass fuels lies in the fact that unused biomass, including raw material biomass, exists in Japan in vast and nearly infinite amounts, and is easily accessible. The unused biomass described here does not fit tree trunks used as raw materials for conventionally used woody fuel chips or woody pellet fuels, and is, so to speak, suitable for the classification of scheduled disposal. In addition, it cannot be used as a raw material for building materials or the like. However, unused biomass, once collected from the vegetation, can be quickly regenerated from the ground, and is also present in large quantities in familiar living environments.

In addition, new and old super-dried biomass fuels are high-calorie biomass fuels that can be stored semipermanently for a long period of time. The reason for this is that a considerable portion of the biomass fuel is semi-carbonized, and as a result, the moisture content of the entire biomass fuel is stabilized at around 12%, and the semi-carbonized carbonized material acts as a preservative. For this reason, when burning new and old overdried biomass fuels, in addition to the fact that the carbonized material ignites at a low temperature, the uncarbonized part is also in a state where drying has progressed, so it is possible to ignite at a relatively low temperature and burn. A biomass fuel with extremely high efficiency and high calorific value can be obtained.

On the other hand, new and old overdried biomass fuels have the disadvantages that the bulk density per unit weight is small and the bulk density varies depending on the type of raw material biomass. Bulk density per unit weight for several types of raw material biomass is exemplified, about 0.004 m ³ /kg for foliage of conifers, about 0.0037 m ³ /kg for moso bamboo, and 0.0048 m ³ /kg for weeds. . Such variation in bulk density depending on the type of raw material biomass remains as a problem to be solved.

By the way, the old biomass fuel is made from herbaceous biomass, which is mainly composed of weeds that can be simply cut, called soft biomass, and thin tree branches and leaves similar to soft biomass, which are specialized for raw material biomass. Therefore, the old biomass fuel manufacturing method and equipment do not consider the use of new biomass fuel raw materials such as unused woody biomass, bamboo, shrubs, etc., and are not suitable for producing new biomass fuel from such raw materials. not

On the other hand, there is a large amount of woody biomass that cannot be simply cut and has a trunk diameter of about 15 to 20 cm. (hereinafter referred to as raw material biomass) can be easily cut into chips of any particle size with a cutting machine, so it can be used as fuel chips and as industrial biomass fuel for wood chip thermal power generation and industrial biomass boilers. recommended to use. However, there are few areas where these raw biomass can be utilized at a practical level, and there is a demand for the development of a practical technology for converting raw biomass into fuel.

The biggest problem in the practical technology of converting raw biomass into fuel is the large amount of small particles that are smaller than the target particle size and have no utility value as a fuel in the conventional technology. This is a processing technology for flaky by-products (hereinafter referred to as by-products) in a mixed state of particle size chips and sawdust.

In the raw material biomass, although it varies depending on the type, in general, the amount of by-products generated is greater than the cutting chips with the desired particle size. A process for separating by-products is required.

In the conventional production of ordinary industrial wood fuel chips (hereinafter referred to as wood fuel chips), which are widely used as fuel for wood chip thermal power generation and large wood boilers, tree trunks called raw wood are cut. It cuts into a cutting tip of any grain size by a machine. Since by-products are generated during this cutting, at the same time as cutting chips, the chips are sorted into by-products and cutting chips having the desired particle size using a sieve.

However, when producing cutting chips from raw material biomass, the proportion of by-products in the whole is high and the moisture content is high. It becomes extremely difficult to do both at the same time. Therefore, it is difficult to apply conventionally used wood fuel chip production methods.

When raw material biomass is cut for use as fuel chips, the water content of the cutting chips is 60-70% when using tree branches and leaves as a raw material, and reaches about 90% when bamboo is used as a raw material. Therefore, it is necessary to dry up to 40%, which is the upper limit of the practical standard for fuel chips.

Therefore, in order to put the raw material biomass into practical use as a biomass fuel, it is necessary to effectively separate and process the large amount of by-products generated when cutting the raw material biomass, to dry the cutting chips by a simple or easy method, and to It is necessary to make effective use of by-products generated in the process.

Wood fuel chips used in conventional wood chip thermal power generation, industrial wood chip boilers, etc. also require drying to reduce the water content to 40% in order to improve combustion efficiency. Therefore, it is required to develop effective drying technology for wood fuel chips as well as cutting chips of raw biomass.

Conventionally, in order to obtain dry wood fuel chips with a moisture content of 40%, high-moisture raw wood logs with a moisture content of 50% to 60% are collected and accumulated in a collection site and stored for a long period of 1 to 2 years. Then, it was naturally dried until the moisture content reached about 40%, which is considered to be the limit of natural drying of raw material logs. When the moisture content of the raw material fell to about 40%, wood fuel chips with a moisture content of 40% as a practical standard were obtained by cutting.

Therefore, in the conventional method of storing and naturally drying raw wood to produce wood fuel chips, the productivity of the raw raw wood and the drying conditions differ greatly from region to region, and a large amount of raw wood is stored in a vast storage yard (stacking yard). ) and have to dry naturally over a long period of one to two years. As a result, the production efficiency of wood fuel chips is not improved, which is one of the factors that increase the production cost. In order to avoid this problem, it is necessary to enable production without raw wood storage and natural drying processes, and to efficiently dry high-moisture cutting chips.

The method of drying the wood fuel chips described above is called the raw wood storage natural drying method, and the raw raw wood has a terminal diameter of about 15 cm or more and a length of about 4 m. . On the other hand, the raw material biomass targeted by the present invention has a size that does not compete with raw wood for building materials, and is different in shape. At present, however, there is no effective drying technology for both drying of wood fuel chips and drying of crushed raw biomass chips, and development of an effective drying technology applicable to both of them is desired.

In the production of wood fuel chips by storage and natural drying of logs, a considerable amount of by-products are generated in the process of cutting logs, and the by-products are screened and disposed of as waste at the same time as the cutting of logs. It is desired to make effective use of this by-product.

The feature of the present invention for solving the above problems is that trees, branches and leaves of trees, shrubs or bamboos are used as raw materials for wood fuel chips to be supplied to sources of demand for wood fuel chips such as wood chip thermal power generation and industrial wood chip boilers. A method for producing dry fuel chips from at least one of raw material biomass of a plant, including a step of cutting or crushing the raw biomass into chips of a desired particle size, wherein the cutting or crushing step comprises cutting or crushing into flake-like by-products in a powder-grain mixed state containing small-diameter chips smaller in diameter than the target particle size and sawdust-like by-products together with chips of the desired particle size; a step of obtaining either cutting flake mixed chips or crushed flake mixed chips as a mixed state of chips having a desired particle size and the flaky by-products; drying to a semi-carbonized state in which the majority of the chips are carbonized; It includes a step of fractionating into flaky by-products. In this feature, it is preferable that the separated semi-carbonized flaky by-products can be supplied as semi-carbonized flake biomass to the woody fuel chip demand source.

Another feature of the present invention for solving the above problems is that trees, branches and leaves of trees, and shrubs are used as raw materials for wood fuel chips to be supplied to sources of demand for wood fuel chips such as wood chip thermal power generation and industrial wood chip boilers. Alternatively, in a method for producing dry fuel chips from at least one of raw material biomass of plants including bamboo and the like, and raw material biomass derived from plants including branches and leaves of trees, pruned branches of trees, weeds, cultivated biomass crops, etc., the raw material biomass is crushed into chips having a particle size smaller than the target particle size, and in this crushing, the raw biomass is crushed into flake crushed chips in which small particle size chips smaller than the target particle size and sawdust are mixed. and a step of drying the flake-like crushed chips to a semi-carbonized state to obtain a flake-like biomass fuel, whichever of the small particle size chips or the sawdust, whichever is dried earlier, is dried.

Each of the above features may include a step of separating powdery semi-carbides having a diameter smaller than the target particle size from the dried flake-like by-products to obtain powdery semi-carbides and flake-like carbides. A step of separating powdery semi-carbides having a diameter smaller than a predetermined particle size from the flake-like crushed chips to obtain powdery semi-carbides and flake-like carbides may be included.

Further, instead of supplying the powdery semi-carbonized matter and the flaky carbonized matter to the woody fuel chip demand source, fertilizers for plant cultivation including agricultural crops, raw materials and additives for culture soil, soil conditioners, and animal feeds including livestock It may be supplied as an additive for pets or a deodorant for pets.

It is preferable that the dry fuel chips are manufactured according to the method for manufacturing dry fuel chips according to any one of the above features.

According to the present invention, a huge and infinite amount of undeveloped soft biomass grows in forests that occupy about 70% of the land of Japan, Satochi-satoyama around depopulated areas that occupy about 40% of the land, roads, and rivers. And the unused biomass can be used as semi-carbide mixed biomass fuel, so that it can be used as a renewable energy resource.

In the case of producing conventional industrial wood fuel chips, raw material logs are naturally dried, but by-products with a high moisture content are over-dried and semi-carbonized, so that the natural drying process of raw material logs is omitted. The production cost of industrial wood fuel chips can be greatly reduced, and productivity can be improved. Also, it becomes possible to produce good quality dry wood fuel chips.

Most of the flaky by-products generated during the cutting of the raw material raw wood, which have been discarded until now, are semi-carbonized during the drying of the flake-mixed chips, so that good-quality flake fuel can be obtained. Flake fuel can be used as a raw material for existing biomass fuel production, such as semi-carbonized fuel pellets and biogas.Furthermore, it is versatile, including use as an additive for agricultural soil conditioners and livestock feeds. It can also be used as an industrial raw material and production material with a high According to the present invention, the drying of wood fuel chips, the drying of by-products generated during the cutting of wood chips, and the separation of half-carbonized and half-carbonized by-products can be performed in one step with one dryer provided in the biomass fuel production apparatus. Since it can be performed simultaneously in the work, it is possible to significantly reduce the production cost. Also, dry fuel chips and flake fuel can be produced at low cost.

According to the present invention, it is possible to produce wood dry fuel chips, flake fuel and flake biomass fuel made from undeveloped soft biomass and unused biomass as raw materials, so _CO2 can be reduced as a carbon-neutral fuel. become.

1 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing dry fuel chips and a system for producing by-products according to the present invention; FIG. It is a figure explaining the production method of the conventional biomass fuel. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a method of producing and drying wood fuel chips; 1 is a diagram showing an example of a dry fuel chip manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention; FIG.

Examples of dry fuel chips according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. First, the old biomass fuel and the new biomass fuel according to the present invention, which is an improved version of the old biomass fuel, will be described, and then the flake mixture will be described. Excessive drying of chips will be explained.

As shown in FIG. 2, the old biomass fuel is obtained by simply cutting soft biomass 17, which is raw material biomass 2 that can be simply cut, and simply drying it using a biomass fuel manufacturing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 4 for details). It's just what I was forced to do. After excessive drying until only thin branches and leaves that dry quickly are charred and charred, only the carbonized and brittle parts are pulverized in a post-process and powdered. Its form is a mixture of pulverized charcoal and branches and stems that have been dried and cut only.

As shown in Fig. 1, the new biomass fuel is produced by crushing various raw material biomass 2 including soft biomass 17 that cannot be simply cut into crushed chips with a target particle size and chips with a smaller diameter than the target particle size. The crushed chips and the flaky by-products 30 are crushed into crushed flake-mixed chips 4 (hereinafter also referred to as flake-mixed chips 4). In the drying process, the same biomass fuel manufacturing apparatus 10 as used for the old biomass fuel is used, but the by-product 30, which dries quickly, is dried until most of the flaky portions containing sawdust are semi-carbonized. As a result, flaky biomass fuel 13 (hereinafter referred to as flaky fuel) is obtained in which the dry crushed chips and pulverized coal are mixed.

Next, excessive drying of the mixed flake chips 4 will be described. As described above, the drying of the biomass fuel according to the present invention basically uses simple drying, and does not use roasting or a technique equivalent to roasting for the purpose of semi-carbonization.

Raw material wood 23 and raw material biomass 2 for industrial wood chip fuel production to be supplied to wood chip thermal power generation, wood chip boilers, etc. are crushed into chips of arbitrary particle size. The mixed flake chips 4 are obtained by mixing by-products 30 having a particle size smaller than the desired size, which are generated during crushing, without separating them and mixing them in the above-mentioned state.

Over-drying is simply drying the mixed flake chips 4 using the biomass fuel manufacturing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 4). The mechanism is that the mixed flake chips 4 are stirred and flowed while being exposed to high temperatures in the semi-closed container 32 whose inside is heated by the heating combustor 33 provided in the biomass fuel production apparatus 10. The mixed flake chips 4 are naturally dried by radiant heat and heat transfer from the wall surface of the semi-sealed container 32 while flowing in the semi-sealed container 32 about 2/3 of the total length in the flow direction.

When the mixed flake chips 4 already dried up to the middle portion in the flow direction of the semi-enclosed container 32 reach the portion near the end portion in the flow direction of the semi-enclosed container 32, which is heated to a high temperature by the heating combustor 33, Sawdust powder and small-sized chips in the by-product 30 which is being dried are roasted and carbonized at a high temperature by being in direct contact with the wall surface of the high-temperature semi-closed container 32 .

However, since the high-temperature heating portion of the semi-sealed container 32 is only near the end portion of the semi-sealed container 32, the flake-mixed chips 4 flowing in that portion are in the roasted state only for a short period of time. As a result, quickly dried items such as sawdust and small particle size chips in the by-product 30 are completely carbonized, but relatively large particle size chips and the like that are not sufficiently dried are only scorched on the surface and carbonized. It becomes extremely dry. Chips with a larger particle diameter than that are dry enough to be affected by carbonization on the surface, and flake fuel 13 is formed as a whole in the form of flakes. Thus, in the present invention, excessive drying is intentionally caused.

When the by-product 30 is carbonized in this series of processes, decomposition heat due to thermal decomposition, high-temperature thermal decomposition gas, and a large amount of high-temperature steam due to drying are generated. They fill the inside of the semi-sealed container 32 and make the inside of the semi-sealed container 32 hot and oxygen-deficient. In addition, drying progresses uniformly and quickly because of the light pressurization. This applies the structure and principle of ancient Japanese charcoal kilns.

The application of the structure and principle of the coal kiln will be specifically described with reference to FIG. At one end of the semi-closed container 32, a flaky biomass fuel outlet 34 is provided for discharging the dried crude flaky mixed fuel. An automatic opening/closing lid (not shown) is attached to the flaky biomass fuel discharge port 34, and the automatic opening/closing lid is normally closed except when the coarse flake mixed fuel is discharged from the semi-sealed container 32. Therefore, the semi-sealed container 32 is a cylindrical container closed at one end and open at the other end except when the crude flake mixed fuel is discharged.

A flake-mixed chip input hopper 31 for receiving the flake-mixed chips 4 is provided on the open side, which is the other end of the cylindrical container closed at one end and open at the other end. The flake-mixed chip feeding hopper 31 is in an open state when the flake-mixed chips 4 are not supplied, but when the flake-mixed chips 4 are supplied, the flake-mixed chips 4 act as a lid to open the semi-closed container 32 . from an open state to a substantially closed state. As a result, the inside of the semi-sealed container 32 is in a semi-sealed state that is not affected by outside air. This semi-sealed state is similar to that in a coal kiln.

As the flake-mixed chips 4 flow in the semi-sealed container 32, part of the flake-mixed chips 4 is quickly dried, and most of the flake-mixed chips 4 are semi-carbonized and overdried. Pyrolysis heat generated when the by-product 30 is semi-carbonized is added to the interior of the semi-sealed container 32, and a mixed gas of high-temperature pyrolysis gas and high-temperature steam generated during drying is generated. is full and is pressurized higher than the outside air. The increased internal pressure of the semi-sealed container 32 presses the mixed flake chips 4 that serve as the lid of the input hopper 31, blows out the mixed gas inside the semi-sealed container 32, and the semi-sealed container is in a semi-sealed state. Keep the internal temperature of 32 at a constant high temperature. As a result, drying and semi-carbonization progress in a chain and smoothly. This is the same principle as that of a coal kiln.

Through the above steps, the raw flake-mixed chips 4 are discharged from the semi-sealed container 32 in the form of flake fuel 13 in a powder-grain-mixed state. Here, since the temperature in the semi-sealed container 32 changes around 210° C., the temperature of the flake-mixed chips 4 in the dry state also becomes about the same. The hot charred by-product 30 is rapidly cooled by agitation within the semi-enclosed vessel 32, and as it is discharged from the semi-enclosed vessel 32, it cools further to a temperature well below its ignition point. In the above description, the case where the crushed flake mixed tip 4 is used is explained, but the same processing is executed when the cut flake mixed tip 5 is used.

Returning to FIGS. 1 to 3, the method of manufacturing dry fuel chips 11 according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a method for manufacturing dry fuel chips 11 and a system for producing flaky byproducts 30 according to the present invention. Trees and branches and leaves of trees obtained from forest 1 and satoyama 6, branches and leaves of trees obtained from environmental improvement sites 8 such as satoyama 6 and parks, shrubs, bamboo, pruned branches, crops and weeds obtained from farmland, etc. Used as raw material biomass.

Description will be made with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a method of producing and drying the wood fuel chips 28. As shown in FIG. Standards for general wood fuel chips 28 used in wood chip thermal power generation and large wood chip boilers have a particle size of 30 mm to 50 mm and a maximum moisture content of 40%. However, there is an increasing demand for a moisture content of 30% or less in order to improve combustion efficiency.

The raw material of the wood fuel chips 28 is, as described above, collected 22 from trees 21 in forests including planted forests as raw material raw wood 23, and is a felled log called raw raw wood 23 with a terminal diameter of about 20 cm to 50 cm. be. The moisture content at the time of collection of the raw material is generally 50% to 60%, and depending on the conditions such as the season, the moisture content may reach 70%.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a conventional biomass fuel production method. Conventionally, raw material logs 23 collected 22 were accumulated in a raw material log accumulation drying field 24 called a soil field, and naturally dried for a long period of 1 to 2 years. It should be noted that the natural drying limit of the raw material log 23 is set at 40% moisture content, which is the reason why the standard upper limit of the moisture content of the wood fuel chips 28 is set at 40%.

Branches and leaves including treetops with a trunk diameter of about 20 cm or less and thinned wood generated during the collection 22 of the raw material logs 23 have conventionally been left unused in the forest 1 as forest residue. Therefore, in the present invention, these unused or neglected forest residues are utilized as the unused raw material biomass 2 . Although utilization of the unused raw material biomass 2 as an unused energy resource is recommended, it has been economically difficult to put it into practical use.

If the unused raw material biomass 2 is cut into chips having a particle size of about 20 mm to 30 mm, it can be used as a biomass fuel. However, in addition to profitability due to the economic costs required for work such as collecting, transporting, and accumulating, there is no method of fuel conversion other than cutting twigs and leaves all at once.In that case, cutting flake mixed chips There have been problems with profitability in that the proportion of flaky by-products 30 of 5 has become too large, resulting in poor yields in the production of dry fuel chips 11 .

Thus, the problem in the production of dry fuel chips 11 is the dry fuel chips 28 produced from the raw material raw wood 23 and the flake fuel 13 produced from the raw material biomass 2 . It is the moisture content of the fuel chip 11 . That is, it is necessary to dry the dry fuel chips 11 to a moisture content of 30% or less.

Next, FIG. 1 shows how the raw material logs 23 and the raw material biomass 2 are collected from the collection site, transported to the biomass fuel manufacturing apparatus 10, and dried fuel chips 11 are manufactured. The raw material logs 23 and the raw material biomass 2 are collected at the collection sites of the raw material logs 23 and the raw material biomass 2 such as the forest 1, the Satochi-satoyama 6, the farmland 7, and the environmental improvement site 8. At the same time, at the site where raw material raw wood 23 and raw material biomass 2 are collected, they are cut or crushed 3 into cutting chips or flake chips of an arbitrary particle size according to the purpose of use by a mobile cutting machine or crusher. At that time, without separating and removing the flaky by-products 30, the mixed cutting flakes 5 or the mixed crushed flakes chips 5 or mixed crushed flakes 4 having a high moisture content and in a powder-grain mixed state are produced. 4 is dried and transported 15 to a biomass fuel production and storage facility 9 (hereinafter referred to as a biomass fuel production and storage facility). As a result, the steps of transportation 15, accumulation and storage, and natural drying 25 of the raw material log 23 and the raw material biomass 2 can be omitted, and production costs can be greatly reduced.

When the cut flake mixed chips 5 are dried, the raw material wood 23 in the forest 1 is cut 3 at the collection site into cut flake mixed chips 5 containing cutting chips and flaky by-products. The cut cut flake mixed chips 5 are transported 15 and delivered to the biomass fuel production and storage facility 9 . Using the biomass fuel manufacturing device 10 provided in the biomass fuel production and storage facility 9, the cut flake mixed chips 5 are dried, and the dry fuel chips 11 and the flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 are separated from the dried cut flake mixed chips 5. do. The biomass fuel production device 10 has a built-in sorting sieve 36 which automatically and fluidly sorts the dried cut flake mixed chips 5 into dry fuel chips 11 and flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 . A portion of the separated flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 is automatically supplied to the heating combustor 33 as a heat source fuel for drying the cut flake mixed chips 5 .

When the crushed flake mixed chips 4 are dried, the raw biomass 2 is crushed 3 into the crushed flake mixed chips 4 at the collection site of the raw biomass 2 . The crushed flake mixed chips 4 formed by crushing are carried into the biomass fuel production and storage facility 9 and dried using the biomass fuel production device 10 provided in the biomass fuel production and storage facility 9 . When the crushed flake mixed chips 4 complete the drying process, all the processes of biomass fuel processing are completed, and the flaky biomass fuel 13 is completed. A part of the completed flaky biomass fuel 13 is automatically supplied to the heating combustor 33 provided in the biomass fuel production apparatus 10 as a heat source fuel for drying the crushed flake mixed chips 4 in the biomass fuel production apparatus 10. .

The drying mechanism of this embodiment is to stir and flow the crushed flake mixed chips 4 in the semi-sealed container 32, which is heated from the outside to a high temperature and is in an extremely oxygen-deficient state. be. As mentioned above, it applies the principle of a charcoal kiln. Most of the fast-drying by-product 30 undergoes pyrolysis and carbonization in place where it is externally heated.

In the drying, the decomposition heat generated by thermal decomposition is efficiently used as a heat source for drying. Thermal decomposition of the by-product 30 occurs continuously in a chain reaction at a predetermined location that is heated from the outside. The amount of thermal decomposition heat generated is comparable to the combustion heat supplied from the outside to heat the semi-sealed container 32 .

The high-temperature pyrolysis gas generated from the pyrolysis of the by-product 30, which fills the so-called externally heated semi-closed container 32, repeatedly inverts and stirs the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 with a high moisture content. , the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 are flowed while exposed to hot pyrolysis gases. This facilitates drying of the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4,5 and the mostly charred by-product 30 is dried to near anhydrous conditions. Drying then extends to chips that do not chain to char. The difference in drying rate in the portions of the cut or crushed mixed flake chips 4, 5 having different particle sizes and the heat of decomposition generated by the carbonization of the by-product 30 are efficiently combined and utilized.

The scale of thermal decomposition of the by-product 30 can be adjusted by the amount of heat supplied from the outside. Since the pyrolysis gas from the pyrolysis of the by-product 30 can bear a substantial portion of the amount of heat required to dry the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5, the pyrolysis of the by-product 30 itself is also applied to the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4. , 5 is an effective means of ensuring self-sufficient fuel for drying. At the same time, it is also a means of ensuring a self-sufficient heat source for drying the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4,5.

Drying the cut or crushed mixed flake chips 4, 5 described above can be done by means other than the biomass fuel production apparatus 10 shown in FIG. 4, such as other biomass drying apparatus such as conventional rotary kiln dryers It is possible, but the production efficiency is greatly reduced when they are used.

By the way, the wood fuel chips 28 produced by the conventional production method are separated from the standard wood fuel chips 28 and the non-standard flakes by using a sieve when cutting the naturally-dried raw material log 23 with a cutting machine. It is what remained after being separated into the by-products 30 . That is, the flaky byproduct 30 has been removed and discarded as substandard.

In addition, natural drying of the raw material biomass 2 according to the present invention for a long period of about 6 months to 1 year does not require any special means, so it is an effective method from the viewpoint of drying treatment. . However, if the raw material biomass 2 is allowed to dry naturally for a long period of time, after the drying treatment, fine branches are likely to break, leaves fall off and rot, and a large amount of garbage is generated as waste. This creates new waste disposal problems, lowering production efficiency and yield, and increasing waste disposal costs. From this point of view, it is not preferable to dry the raw material biomass 2 naturally.

Therefore, in the present invention, the step of naturally drying the raw material log 23 or the raw material biomass 2 is omitted. When the raw material log 23 or the raw material biomass 2 having a high moisture content is collected 22, the raw material log 23 or the raw material biomass 2 is collected using a mobile cutting machine or crusher at the site where the raw material log 23 or the raw material biomass 2 is collected. Cut or crush. At that time, the raw material raw wood 23 or the raw material biomass 2 is cut or crushed into chips 4, 5 which are cut or crushed into flake mixed chips 4, 5 of any desired particle size. The cut or crushed cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 are transported 15 to the biomass fuel production and storage facility 9, and under the central control of industrial mechanization using the biomass fuel production equipment 10, the biomass fuel production equipment 10 After being dried inside, it is screened into dry fuel chips 11 and flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 .

The cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 dried in the biomass fuel production apparatus 10 finish drying with an overall moisture content within the range of 15% to 20%. Most of the semi-charred by-product 30 is in an extremely dry, near-anhydrous state, making separation very easy. Therefore, it is possible to centrally manage the two types of work of drying the wood fuel chips 28 and separating the by-products 30, thereby greatly reducing the production cost of the dry fuel chips 11 and greatly improving the production efficiency. be able to.

The fuel chip drying method according to the present invention is basically the same drying method as the old biomass fuel production method described in Patent Document 1 by the present inventor. However, since only the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 that dry early are dried until they are charred and semi-carbonized, chips of the desired particle size aimed at production as wood fuel chips 28 are used. Drying is finished in a dry state that is slightly affected by semi-charring.

In this method of drying fuel chips, the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4 and 5 are simply dried in the biomass fuel production apparatus 10, which is a dryer, and the dried fuel chips are automatically and fluidly dried by the built-in sieve. 11 and flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12. The separated flaky by-product biomass fuel 12 is good-quality flaky semi-carbonized biomass fuel in a powder-grain mixture state. As a result, good quality dry fuel chips 11 and good quality flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 are produced at the same time.

Moreover, this drying method is basically the same as the old biomass fuel processing technology in which part of the soft biomass 17 is semi-carbonized as described in Patent Document 1. However, in Patent Document 1, after the soft biomass 17 is simply cut, the portion of the cut soft biomass 17 that dries quickly is semi-carbonized, and the carbonized portion is pulverized later. On the other hand, in the present invention, the raw material raw wood 23 and the raw material biomass 2 are cut or crushed into chips of any particle size using a cutter or a crusher to obtain cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4 and 5 . Then, it is dried until most of the flake-like by-products 30 generated during crushing are semi-carbonized to form pulverized coal. This point is different from the old biomass fuel processing method described in Patent Document 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the old biomass fuel is obtained by simply cutting the soft biomass 17 and pulverizing the quickly dried, scorched and carbonized parts such as thin branches and leaves. Its shape resembles the remains of a bonfire, and was intended for self-sufficient fuel for agricultural heating. On the other hand, the flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 according to the present invention is produced by drying cut wood fuel chips, and then mixed with semi-carbonized sawdust into semi-carbonized chips separated into a predetermined particle size. It is a biomass fuel and can be a standardized product that can be mass-produced. That is, the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 are dried until the majority of the flaky by-products contained in the mixed chips 4, 5 are carbonized to a semi-carbonized state, and the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 are used for the purpose of satisfying the desired particle size. It is separated into dry fuel chips and semi-charred flaky by-products. And/or, after crushing the raw material raw wood or the like into flake crushed chips in which small particle size chips having a diameter smaller than the intended particle size and sawdust are mixed, the flake crushed chips are mixed with small particle size chips and sawdust. The flaky biomass fuel is obtained by drying to a semi-carbonized state, whichever is dried earlier.

According to the present invention detailed above, the biomass fuel manufacturing apparatus 10 is used to simply dry the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4 and 5 to manufacture dry fuel chips 11 . The dry fuel chips 11 are supplied to demand sources such as wood chip thermal power plants and wood chip boilers. Therefore, raw material wood 23 and raw material biomass 2 for industrial wood chip fuel production are cut or crushed into cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4 and 5 of arbitrary particle size. The raw flake mixture chips 4 and 5 in a powder-grain mixture state which are smaller than the target particle size and do not separate the flake-like by-products 30 generated during cutting or crushing are raw flake mixture chips. Also, the small particle size chips and the semi-carbonized and dried sawdust contained in the flake by-products 30 are the dry flake mixed chips and the dry flake chips, respectively. A flake-like by-product biomass fuel 12 and a flake-like biomass fuel 13 are obtained from the dry flake mixed chips and the dry flake chips.

Further, according to the present invention, the flaky biomass fuel 13 is supplied to demand sources such as wood chip thermal power generation and wood chip boilers. A raw material wood 23 for industrial fuel wood chip production and a raw material biomass 2 are cut or crushed into cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 of arbitrary particle size by a cutter or a crusher. Chips 4 and 5 mixed with cut or crushed flakes are obtained by leaving the flaky by-products 30 having a smaller diameter than the target particle size produced during cutting or crushing and leaving them in a powder-grain mixed state without separating them. On the other hand, the flaky by-products 30 are dried until most of the flaky by-products 30 are semi-carbonized to obtain a flaky mixed biomass fuel.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the cut or crushed mixed flake chips 4 and 5 obtained by cutting or crushing the raw material log 23 into an arbitrary grain size are dried by the drying method described above to obtain dried mixed flake cutting chips. , and then separated into dry cutting chips and flake biomass fuel to obtain versatile dry fuel chips.

According to the present invention, when producing dry fuel chips, the flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 obtained by separation is obtained by cutting the raw material raw wood into an arbitrary particle size, and the cut flake mixed chips 5 are used as described above. It is produced by drying with the drying method of The dried cutting flake mixed chips 5 become a coarse particle mixed cutting chip fuel, which is separated into dry chips and carbonized flake by-products 30 to provide semi-carbonized biomass fuel.

In addition, according to the present invention, the raw material biomass 2 is cut or crushed into the cut or crushed flake mixed chips 4 and 5 having a particle size similar to that of the flake byproducts 30 generated when cutting the raw material raw wood 23, and then cut or crushed. The crushed flake mixed chips 4, 5 are dried by the drying method described above to obtain dry fuel chips. The flaky biomass fuel 13 and the production method of the flaky biomass fuel 13 constitute the core of the new biomass fuel and the production method of the biomass fuel in the present invention.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, the flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 and the flaky biomass fuel 13 can be further separated to obtain the powdery semi-carbonized material 14 having a small particle size. The resulting powdery semi-carbonized material 14 and flake fuel of the tomi-carbonized by-product can be supplied as good quality tomi-carbonized biomass fuel to small biomass fuel-burning appliances such as home heaters. Alternatively, it can be used as a raw material for biogas, semi-carbonized pellet fuel, or the like.

Basically, as shown in Fig. 1, branches and leaves of trees in forest 1 and satochi-satoyama 6, thinned wood, miscellaneous trees, shrubs, etc. are utilized as renewable energy resources of unused biomass. It also includes the use of pruned branches such as parks and roadside trees, roads, rivers, and other plant waste discharged at environmental improvement sites 8 as energy resources. Furthermore, it also includes the utilization of farmland 7 such as idle farmland and abandoned farmland to convert raw biomass cultivated crops into energy resources. can be used to promote the creation of

The flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 and the powdery semi-carbonized material 14 can be used as soil conditioners, fertilizer additives, and livestock feed additives, which are production materials in the agricultural and livestock industries. In the past, when there were no chemical fertilizers or chemicals in the agricultural and livestock industries, charcoal granules and pulverized charcoal were used as fertilizers for vegetable cultivation and bonsai. It was used without knowing the theory that it can be done. After that, with the spread of chemical fertilizers and chemicals, their use tended to disappear naturally.

In recent years, the effectiveness of charcoal as an agricultural production material has been scientifically analyzed, and the excessive dependence on chemical fertilizers and chemicals has been reviewed in the agricultural and livestock industries, and the use of naturally derived materials has been promoted. there is Under such trends, the carbonized flaky byproduct 30, which is the main part of the flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12, can be sufficiently used as a production material in the field of agriculture and livestock. That is, from the dried flaky by-products, the powdery semi-carbides having a diameter smaller than a predetermined particle size are separated to obtain the powdery semi-carbides and the flaky charcoal. Fertilizers for plant cultivation including agricultural crops, raw materials and additives for culture soil, soil conditioners, animal feeds including livestock, instead of supplying wood fuel chip demand sources such as thermal power generation and industrial wood fuel chip boilers. Use it as a deodorant for things and pets.

The flaky byproduct biomass fuel 12 and the powdery semi-carbonized material 14 can also be used as raw materials for biogas and semi-carbonized pellets.

1... Forest, 2... (unused) raw material biomass, 3... cutting or crushing (at raw material biomass collection site), 4... (crushing) mixed flake chips, 5... cutting flake mixed chips, 6... Satochi Satoyama, 7 ... Farmland, 8 ... Environmental improvement site, 9 ... Biomass fuel production and storage facility (also used for cutting raw materials or drying crushed chips), 10 ... Biomass fuel production equipment, 11 ... Dry fuel chips, 12 ... Flaky byproduct biomass fuel, 13... Flake-like biomass fuel (flake fuel), 14... Powdery semi-carbide, 15... Transportation, 16... Biomass fuel utilization facility, 17... Soft biomass, 18... Cutting (at soft biomass collection site), 19... Cutting biomass 20 Old biomass fuel 21 (forest) trees 22 Collecting (using trees as raw material logs) 23 Raw material logs 24 Raw material log accumulation and drying field 25 Natural drying (raw material logs) 26 Raw material crushing facility, 27 Wood chip cutting and sorting device, 28 Wood fuel chip, 29 Wood fuel chip utilization facility, 30 (Flake) by-product, 31 (Cutting or crushed flake mixed chip) input hopper, 32 ... semi-closed container, 33 ... combustor for heating, 34 ... flaky biomass fuel (flake fuel) discharge port, 36 ... separation sieve

Claims (4)

At least one biomass of trees, branches and leaves of trees, shrubs or plants including bamboo as a raw material for wood fuel chips to be supplied to demand sources of wood fuel chips such as wood fuel chip thermal power generation and industrial wood fuel chip boilers. In a method of making dry fuel chips,
A step of cutting or crushing the raw biomass into chips of a desired particle size,
In the step of cutting or crushing, in addition to chips of the desired particle size, flake-like by-products in the form of powder-grain mixture containing small particle size chips smaller than the target particle size and sawdust by-products. cut or crushed into
a step of obtaining flake mixed chips as a mixed state of the chips having the desired particle size and the flake by-products;
a step of drying using a biomass fuel production apparatus until the majority of the flaky by-products contained in the flaky mixed chips are carbonized to a semi-carbonized state;
separating the dried mixed flake chips into the desired dry fuel chips satisfying the desired particle size and the torrefied flaky by-products;
The biomass fuel production device is
A cylindrical container closed at one end with an automatic open/close lid and open at the other end;
The other open end has an input hopper for inputting the flake mixed chips,
The flake mixed chips introduced from the introduction hopper into the cylindrical container substantially close the other end side, and the inside of the cylindrical container is configured to be in a semi-sealed state,
In the drying step, at least part of the flaky by-products are heated inside the semi-sealed cylindrical container to cause thermal decomposition, and the flake mixed chips are decomposed by the thermal decomposition gas generated by the thermal decomposition. Self-sufficient fuel to dry,
A method for producing dry fuel chips. 2. The method of producing dry fuel chips according to claim 1, wherein the separated semi-carbonized flake-like by-product can be supplied as flake semi-carbonized biomass to a demander of the wood fuel chips. 2. The dry fuel chips of claim 1, further comprising separating powdery semi-carbides having a diameter smaller than a predetermined particle size from the dried flaky by-products to obtain powdery semi-carbides and flaky charcoal. manufacturing method. Instead of supplying the powdery semi-carbonized material and the flaky carbonized material according to claim 3 to the woody fuel chip demand source, fertilizers for plant cultivation including agricultural crops, raw materials and additives for potting soil, soil conditioners, and livestock A method for producing dry fuel chips characterized by being able to be supplied as an additive for animal feed and a deodorant for pets.

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