Biomass Handling - Predicting Storage Vessel Geometry Requirements for Discharge of Extreme Shape Materials

The rush to sustainable/ renewable energy to mitigate the global warming or greenhouse gas emissions is global and is increasing everyday, especially on bioenergy/ biofuels. Clean Development Mechanism was developed in the Kyoto Protocol to ensure the mitigation of global warming is achieved in developing countries and developed (industrialised) countries. To achieve these important goals, the right equipment to handle and process biomass materials is required in order to produce the carbon-neutral energy (renewable energy).In order to specify the right equipment and to evaluate the existing process technologies, which are not meeting the expectations of the industry, the bulk mechanical/ flow properties that make up the feedstock (raw materials) used to generate the biofuels needs to be characterised. The particles that make up biofuel materials (i.e. biomass and waste materials) are extreme/ irregular in shape. They are classified as extreme shape materials (ESM) ¿Class 3¿ by The Wolfson Centre for Bulk Solids Handling Technology based on their many years of research into these materials. They are elastic, fibrous, flaky, and stringy in nature.