Storage of whole-tree chips from high-density energy plantations of Eucalyptus in Brazil

• Autor(a) principal: Eufrade Junior, Humberto de Jesus [UNESP]
• Data de Publicação: 2016
• Outros Autores: Oguri, Guilherme [UNESP], de Melo, Raoni Xavier [UNESP], Ballarin, Adriano Wagner [UNESP], Guerra, Saulo Philipe Sebastião [UNESP]
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UNESP
• Texto Completo: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2016.07.009; http://hdl.handle.net/11449/178179
• topic: Daily moisture change; Drying period; Storage systems; Wood chips piles

In this paper, the drying of whole-tree chip (WTC) storage from young Eucalyptus plantation managed at short-rotation coppice in Brazil was studies. The biomass was converted from high-density energy plantations of Eucalyptus grandis at 2 years old into four piles. Wood chip particles had 5, 15, and 30 mm length were disposed on a paved surface to evaluate the effect on the chip drying. An additional covered pile (30-mm wood chip) was installed to evaluate the effect of coverage condition. The non-ventilated and uncovered piles were not affected by WTC length, and the final moisture content (MC) was 48.4–53.5% and temperature inside the piles (storage temperature) was approximately 36 °C. However, the coverage showed beneficial effect on drying wood chip process, collaborating to keep the MC lower than 35%, conventionally recommended for energy purposes. Among storage systems studied, the higher daily moisture content was assigned to covered pile, about 0.197% day−1 during the first 30 days. This paper can be used as a reference for further studies with wood chip pile storage at tropical conditions.