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PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

FOR THERMAL CONVERSIONS
a
Fang Zhen
a
China Center for Rural Technology Development, State Science and Technology Commission
of Peoples' Republic of China, P.O. Box 199-2, Beijing, 100036, Peoples' Republic of China

Available online: 06 Apr 2007

To cite this article: Fang Zhen (1993): PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB FOR THERMAL CONVERSIONS, Fuel
Science and Technology International, 11:8, 1037-1045

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 FUEL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY INT'L.. 1 1(8), 1037-1045 (1993)

PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

FOR THERMAL CONVERSIONS
Downloaded by [Stanford University Libraries] at 08:33 18 June 2012

Fang Zhen

China Center for Rural Technology Development

State Science and Technology Commission of
Peoples' Republic of China
P.O. Box 199-2
Beijing 100036, Peoplea' Republic of China

ABSTRACT

In order to increase thermal efliciency and d u c e pollution, it is

necessary to understand the physical and ehemical pmpkrties of mrncob for
- . .
the service of its wsification and liausfaction. Phvsical ~ r o ~ e r t i of -
e smeltine
point, mhesiveness, heatingvalue, specific gravity, thermal conductivity and
&eific heat, and chemica~&~ertieiof ch&caicomposition (cellulose,
- . semioellulme. extractives and ash)...element mmwsition (C.
lienin. . . H.. 0. S.
N),industrial analpia (content of water, ash, volatile and fixed carbon),
reactivity and volatility of mrncob have all been tested or mllected.

INTRODUCTION

China's rural area has plenty of mrncob resources. According to Zhen

(1987), Beijing alone can get 3.37 mil. tons of crop stalks in 1985, corn stalk

accounts for 63% (2.13 mil. tons). If half of the stalks is cob, then 1.07 mil.

tons of mb can be obtained. And calculated by 70% anversional rate

Copyright 0 1993 by Mnrscl Dckkcr. Ine

 1038 ZHEN

(heating value of cob is 16.76 MJIKg), the cob can produce large amount of

gas with 1 . 1 7 ~ 1 0 J' ~energy, which is equivalent to 0.26 mil. tons of diesel

and exoeeds 30,000 tons of the whole oil consumption (0.23 mil. tons) in mrnl

Beijing in 1986. Gas can not only be a substitute oil but also raise thermal

efficiency from 10% of burning corncob to 30-4640 of burning itself for heat.
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The corncob pmduction for the whole state of 1986 is 63.8 mil. tons. The

produced gaa is equivalent to 16.31 mil. tons of dieael, which is 1.9 times as

much as that supplied by the skate in 1986 (8mil. tons).

Therefore, study of physical and chemical properties of mb, which is the

base research ofgasification and liquefaction, is important to solve t h e

energyahortage, especially fuel oil shortage, in mrnl China.

4

PHYSICAL PROPERTIES O F CORNCOB

Melting point, mheaiveneas, heating value, specific gravity, thermal

conductivity and specific heat (Chong Qing h h i t e c t u r a l Engineering

Institute 1987, Energy Institute of Hebei Academy of Sciences 1986, State

Mechanical Commission 1988) are m e a s u d .

melt in^ point

Because biomass ash is a compound composed of different metallic and

nonmetallic oxidea, its melting point is not fixed and has a range. The ash in

made a s a pyramid based a equilaternl triangle with s i d e of 7 mm and a

height of 20 mm. Then the pyramid is put in e weak reducing medium to be

heated (i.e., lack of free oxygen, Hz, C O p l , 1). When the top of the pyramid

becomes arched or inclined, the moment temperature is called shaping

 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

temperature, with T1 expression; heated mntinuously, when it becomes

spherical or bent until the top falls onto floor, the moment temperature is

called softening temperature, with TI expremion; heated further, when it

f l o w along the floor, the temperature is called melting temperature, with T3

expression. The measurement to mrncob ash is: shaping temperature

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T1=77OsC, softening temperature T2=860'C and melting temperature

T3=900'C, which s h o w the melting point of m b is mmparatively low.

However cob has low mntent of ash and the temperature difference (T2-

T1=130'C<200'C) ia low, so when the slag moled, its visccaity increases

sharply, and the slag condenses quickly and cracks. Thus cob ash is uneasy

to form slag agglomerate.

Cohesiveness

Cohesiveness is the ability of agglomeration among biomass particles

when heated. It is related ed not only types ofbiomass but also the pmduced

mlloid when heated, and operation pressures, etc. When biomass is heated to

60OSC,the higher the combustible volatile yield, the higher of index value of

(CT+HT)/OT,the better of i b mhesiveness. The measured mhesive index of

mb (1-8) is 3, whichshowa its weak cohesiveness.

Heatinz value

Heating value is a n important quota ta judge quality of biomass and a

lackless data for mmbustion calculations, such a s calculations of thermal

balance in mmbustion process of gasification, fuel mnsumption qualtity and

thermal efieiency. Heating value of biomass is the quantity of heat released

 1040 ZHEN

by burning of per unit mass biomass. It is divided into two types: (1) High

HeatingValue (QCW). Heat quantity is released by entirely burning

biomnm per unit mass on condition that all the exhausted steam condensea to

the water with O'C; (2) Low HeatingValue (Qdw). Heat quantity is released

by burning per unit mass when steam in exhausted gas releasea a t gaseous
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state (2SeC), which is close to actual case. Measured with oxygen-tube

calorimeter, the gotten tube caloric value (Qdt) of corncob equals to 17.12

P?lj/Kg. When measuring, cob burns in high oxygen pressure, and sulfur and

nitrogen within it are oxidized then dissolve in water to form sulfuric acid

and nitric acid. Therefore, high heatingvalue (Qgw) is tube caloric value

minues enthalpy of sulfuric acid and nitric acid, i.e. Bgw=17.1 Mj&, which

is almost equels to the tube caloric value owing to cob containinglittle sulfur

and nitrogen. High heating value minus heat of vaporization of water is low

heatingvalue (Qdw), i.e. Qdw=15.76 Mj/Kg. Water content (WDof the above

m b is 7.69% (analysis base).

Specific gravity

The weight ratio of biomass without exterior and interior pomsity ta the

water with the same value and temperature (20-C) is called true specific

(dcl), with the tested result dc1=1.66. If a whole block of cob is measured,

and it contains only interior porosity, the tested result is called false specific

gravity (dc2). Yi Weinin (1991) tested e whole corncob with the result of

dc2=0.338. If a pile of broken corncob, which contains both interior pomsity

 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB IWI

and polosity among particles of cob, the m u l t is called piling specific gravity

(dc3). Chen Hong (1990) tested p o w e ~ dcob with the result of dc3=O.%l

while the author get8 results of the cob of particle size 1-6 cm with

dc3=0.1496 and bane angle of piled cob cylinder (x=67.5).

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Conductivity and specific heat

Conductivity and specific heat a m thermal physical properties and the

moat important parernetera in a pymlyzer. Chen Hang (1990) lpports

powered mb conductivity (Am) =0.098W.m. 'C, specific heat Cp=1.189yj/Kg.

'C (at 80.C). Conductivity of porous media can be deduced by Chemical

Industrial Handbook Editing Committee (1989) formula,

Am = ~ c ( k # ~ + 1 - 0 ~ ) / [ k ( # ' ~ . # ) + 1 - # ~ ~ + # 1

Am -- total conductivity
Ac --successive portion conductivity

k -- conductivity ratio o l t h e porous to the successive

O[=(p-pm)l(ps-pg)l -- volume ratio
p -- successive phaae specific gravity
pg -- gaseous phase specific gravity
pm -- total specific grevity

Thus, it can be calculated that As=O.O677W/m.'C, and the conductivity of the

cob (particle size 1-6) Aml=O.O677Whn.~C(water content wf=10%) and

Am2=0.0732Whn.'C (water content WI=20%).

 1042 ZHEN

CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

Corncorb and other kind of biomass with a variant mmposition a r e

obtained in Table I (Koufopanoa 1989 and Weimin 1987). The proximate

analysis ofcorncob includes water, ash, volatile and fixed carbon mntent

(Energy Inatitute of Hebei Academy of Sciences 1986).

The water mntent ON0 data include interior and exterior water mntent.
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Interior water content (adsorbed water) is on the surface and in the micm-

pomsity of biomesa, when heated to above 100oC, it will vaporiur fmm

pomsity. Exterior water mntent (physical water) is stained in surface and in

big hole of biomass, which is mainly from rain and snow. The water mntent

of biomass dried naturally had Wf=-7.69%.

When biomass burns or gasifies, the weight ratio of its mineral residue

(alag) after reactions a t high temperature (800.C) to the initial is called ash

mntent (An, which is determined es Af=2.15%.

To determine the volatile matter mntent (VD,a certain amount of

biomass is heated for 7 minutea a t 900°C without air, the produced gas

without steam is called volatile. Volatile mntent is weight ratio ofvolatile to

the initial material; the result is Vf=73.07%.

Alter heating, the residual solid is called char, which minus ash is fixed

carbon (C0. According to the three indexes ofindustrial analysis --water

mntent Wf, ash mntent N a n d volatile mntent Vf -- it is eesily calculated:

Cf=100%-ONf+Af+VO=17.09%.

Biomass is mainly mmposed of carbon (C), hydmgen (H) and oxygen

(01, and little of nitrogen (N) and sulfur 6).

The results are C=43.93%,
 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

TABLE I.
Chemical Comwsition of Some Biomass

Biomass Cellu- Lignin Hemicell- Extrac- Ash

Biomass lose ulode tives

Corncob 6.22 14.8 31.8 1.2 1.0

Cotton 99.3 0.6 0.1
Olive husks 22.2 46.0 21.1 6.1 3.6
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Beechwood 60.6 29.6 12.7 6.3 2.0

Hazel nuts 27.6 40.7 24.1 3.9 1.0

TABLE 11.
Reactivity of Corncob

Temperature
'C 660 700 760 800 850 900 960 1000

co, (%) 90.7 84.3 69.3 62.1 33.9 18.6 39.3 98.6
92.6 80.0 67.1 46.6 29.6 18.4 38.4 96.3

COPdecom- 4.3 8.1 17.7 31.1 49.1 68.6 43.3 0.3

position 3.6 10.7 19.3 37.1 64.2 68.8 44.2 0.4
rate (90)

H=6.64%,N=0.29 and S=0.01%. Oxygen is calculated as 0=100%-C-H-N-S-

Wf-M=40.29%. The corncob formula is approximately represented a s

c6H9.2404.13
Reactivity (activity) is the reaction ability of biomass reacting with

carbon dioxides, steam or oxygen a t certain high temperature. The stronger

reactivity is, the faster reaction rate and the higher elficiency in gasification
 1044 , ZHEN

of wmbustion are. There many methods to expresa it, such a s reaction rate,

reaction decomposition or reduction rate,activated energy, fin, point and

average wmbustion rate. When a r b o n dioxide rep& with char, ita

d u c t i o n rate is repre~entedfor biomass reactivity in China. The higher the

rate is, the stmnger reactivity is. Table I1 ie tested resulta.

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YI Weimin (1987)tested mrncob with water wntent 1%. and found that

w r n w b pyrolysis a n be reprrsented as:

dV/dt=l.3x107(0.626-V)exp(-12900/P)

t -.pyrolysis time
V -- weight ratio of volatile to the initial

T -- pyrolysis temperature.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author gretefully acknowledges the guidance by Pmfesaor Zeng

Decao, fmm Beijing Agriculture Engineeringuniveraity, the financial

support of Chinese National Scienca Foundation.

REFERENCES

Chemical Industrial Handbook Editing Committee. 1989. Chemical

Industrial Handbook (1). Chemical Industrial Publishing House

China's Academy of Agricultural Mechanization. 1987. Report on

Investigation and Ita Policy to Agricultural Power Energy
Consumption.

China's Agricultural Yearbook editing committee. 1987. China's

Agricultural Yearbook. Agricultural Publishing House.

Chong Qing Architcdural Engineering Institub. 1987. Gas Pmduction and

Ita Cleaning, China's Architectural Industrial Publishing House.
 PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF CORNCOB

Energy Institute of Hebei Academy of Sciences. 1986. Constitution and

Specification of LSM Series' Gas Producer.

Hong, Chen. 1990. Study on Pymlysis Properties of Biomass. MA Paper of

Beijing Agriculturl Engineering University.

Koufopanotl, CA., et al. 1989. Kinetica Modelingof the Pymlyais of Biomaas

and Biomaas Components. The Canadian Journal of Chemical
Engineering, Vol. 67, pp. 76-84.
Downloaded by [Stanford University Libraries] at 08:33 18 June 2012

Sofer, Samir S., e t al. 1981. Biomaas Conversion for Energy and Fuels.
Plenum P m , New York.

State Mechanical Commission. 1988. Principles of Gas Producers,

Mechanical Industrial Publishing Home.

Weimin, Yi. 1987. Study on Volatile Properties of Corncob. Papers of the

First China's Seminar for Young Agricultural Engineer.

Weimin, Yi. 1991. Study on Pymlyaia Gaaification of Biomaas. Papem of

Beijing Agricultural Engineering University.

Zhen, Fang, et al. 1987. Development Planning for Rural Energy

Construction in Beuing. Bcying Municipal Planning Commission.

RECEIVED: April 14, 1992

ACCEPTED: May 5 , 1 9 9 2