Design and Experimental Analysis of Charcoal Production from Maize Waste (Corncob)
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Date
2020-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Maize is the second dominant crop that is used as a food next to Teff in Ethiopia. However, there is much left-over corncob after harvest and during processing. Some peoples need the waste of this corn for cooking purposes and baking Injera. Pyrolysis is the process at which charcoal is produced within low oxygen environmental conditions. Developing an innovative pyrolysis system for the production of charcoal from corncob that is economical, efficient, and environmentally friendly is very important. The main objective of this research work to design and experimental analysis of charcoal production from corncob by slow pyrolysis. The continuous pyrolysis system has been designed, manufactured, and tested. Data collection, characterization of corncob, and charcoal analysis were done. The physical characterizations of the corncobs have also been done by estimating the proximate analysis. Bomb calorimeter was used to measure the energy content of the corncobs and the produced charcoal. As the quality properties and chemical composition of plant material are one of the most important indicators of how much waste can be used in charcoal production the characterizes of moisture content, Volatile matter content, fixed carbon content, and an ash content of the corncob were found as 9.11%, 65.84%, 15.76%, 9.28% respectively. Based on the experimental result the corncobs charcoal was 1.55% of moisture, 13.65% of Volatile matter, 65.64% of fixed carbon and 18.26% of ash contents were observed. Based on the result, 2.1 kg of biochar is produced from 3kg of corncobs at rpm of 12.5 and 24℃/min of residence time at the temperature of 600℃. This implies a product yield of 70 % has been found. The parameters like temperature, rotation of the motor, and moisture contents of the waste have effects on the production of the charcoal from corncobs using this machine. Based on the experimental result, the lower heating values of the corncobs and its charcoal were found to be 16.97 MJ/kg and 27.43 MJ/kg respectively. Thus, by using this machine
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Keywords
Charcoal, Corncobs, Slow pyrolysis, Continuous screw reactor