Ama-Agricultural Mechanization In Asia Africa And Latin America, cilt.52, sa.2, ss.71-78, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
This study evaluates the technical and environmental aspects of hazelnut
production wastes for energy utilization. A commercial- as well as a laboratory-scale
pelleting machine were developed and tested for hazelnut residues utilization. The
residues were pelleted at two different moisture contents (M10: 8%-10% and M12:
10%-12%) as referred to EU standards, and particle sizes (PS: 6 mm and 10 mm).
Physical properties (bulk density, pellet density, mechanical duration and
pellet firmness, and pellet moisture and equivalent humidity contents), and
thermal properties (gas emission values after combustion, ash content and
calorific values) of the pellets were measured. Pellet bulk densities varied between
541.2 kg/m3 and 587.9 kg/m3, while the pellet densities
varied between 1,238.2 kg/m3 and 1,309.4 kg/m3.
Mechanical durability (MD) values varied from 89.6% to 93.3%. Firmness values
changed from 1146 N to 1574.2 N. Ash content was 7.2% and heating value of the
pellets was 18.4 MJ/kg. The effect of material moisture content and particle
size on the parameters was found to be statistically significant. In
conclusion, hazelnut husk agricultural residue was found to be suitable as a
solid biofuel in the form of pellets, for both in environmental and in fuel
properties aspects.