Sunday, May 4, 2008
3-26

Spectroscopic Analysis of Biomass Feedstock Fines

William F. Bauer1, Gracy Elias1, Peter A. Pryfogle2, and Judy K. Partin3. (1) Chemical and Radiation Measurements, Idaho National Laboratory, 1765 N. Yellowstone Hwy, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2208, (2) Biofuels & Renewable Energy Technologies, Idaho National Laboratory, 1765 N. Yellowstone Hwy, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2203, (3) Materials Characterization, Idaho National Laboratory, 1765 N Yllwstone Hwy, Idaho Falls, ID 83415-2203

The process of chopping and grinding biomass to enhance surface area prior to entering a biofuel production plant produces a wide range of small particles with potentially significant compositional differences.  The differences in these fractions have implications relative to the size reduction process and, possibly, to the economic value of the various size fractions.  Samples of wheat and barley straw were chopped to 0.25”-0.5” and then divided into size fractions by passing a 1.0-kg sample through a forage separator, resulting in size fractionation of the parent material based upon diminishing screen size openings of 19.0 mm, 12.7 mm, 6.3 mm, 3.96 mm, 1.17 mm and the “pan”.  The material in the “pan” was further segregated using a series of sieves with US mesh sizes #20, #30, #40, #50, #70, #100 and the “final pan”.  The fractions collected on this set of sieves were dried, ground in a Thomas-Wiley Mill, passed through a 2 mm screen and subsequently examined with near-infrared (NIR), fluorescence and synchronous luminescence spectroscopies.  Replicate spectra were obtained for each sample using each spectroscopic technique and the respective data sets subjected to chemometric analysis.  The results of the chemometric analyses demonstrated clear spectroscopic differences for each size fraction by each spectroscopic technique.   Further analyses of the data give some indication as to the compositional differences in the fractions that are responsible for the spectroscopic differences.  It is believed that this information can be tied to quality control of the chopping/grinding process and to valuing the resulting size fractions.

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