Title:
Charcoal Production from Alternative Agroforestry Woody Residues Typical of Southern Europe
Author(s):
Charvet, F., Silva, F., Pio, D., Tarelho, L., Matos, A., Silva, J., Neves, D.
Document(s):
Paper
Poster
Abstract:
Charcoal production in Portugal is presently mostly based on the valorization of wood prunings from cork oak and holm oak stands. Nevertheless, since wildfire prevention became a priority in Portugal, as in other South European countries like Spain and Greece, especially after the dramatic wildfires of 2017 and 2018, urgent actions are being conducted to reduce the amount of biomass available in the forests. In addition, there is also considerable amounts of woody residues from e.g. pruning activities (olive trees, stone pine, etc.), forest management, or the control of non-native species which are rapidly increasing the amount and heterogeneity of the woody residues that are available for valorization. This has motivated the present research on whether the carbonization process can be successfully applied to valorize alternative woody biomasses not currently used on a large scale. For this purpose, slow pyrolysis experiments were carried out with ten types of wood typically found in Southern-Europe, using a fixed bed reactor that enables controlled heating of large fuel particles (50×55mm) at 1ºC/min and final temperatures within 300 to 450ºC. Apart from an evaluation of the mass balance of the process, special emphasis was given to the properties of the resulting charcoal in relation to its major market in Portugal – barbecue charcoal.
Keywords:
biomass, charcoal, valorization, woody residues
Topic:
Biomass Technologies and Conversion for Bioenergy
Subtopic:
Production and supply of solid fuels and intermediates
Event:
28th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition
Session:
2BV.2.18
Pages:
368 - 376
ISBN:
978-88-89407-20-2
Paper DOI:
10.5071/28thEUBCE2020-2BV.2.18
Price:
FREE
