Wedge-Shaped Hopper Design for Milled Woody Biomass Flow

Lu, Yimin; Jin, Wencheng; Saha, Nepu; Klinger, Jordan Lee; Xia, Yidong; Dai, Sheng

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05284

Wedge-Shaped Hopper Design for Milled Woody Biomass Flow

Journal Article · Sun Dec 04 23:00:00 EST 2022 · ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.2c05284· OSTI ID:1922899

^[1]; ^[2]; Saha, Nepu ^[2]; Klinger, Jordan Lee ^[2]; ^[2]; ^[3]

Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)

The bioenergy industry has been challenged by unstable flow and transport of milled biomass in material handling operations. Handling issues such as hopper clogging and auger jamming are attributed to knowledge gaps between existing handling units designed for bulk solids and their suitability for milled biomass with high compressibility. This work investigates various flow behaviors of granular woody biomass in wedge-shaped hoppers. Herein, hopper flow physical experiments and numerical simulations are conducted to study the influence of the critical material attributes and critical processing parameters on the flow pattern, arching, and throughput. The results show that (1) the preferred flow pattern, mass flow, can be achieved by controlling the material’s internal friction angle, hopper inclination, and hopper wall friction; (2) hopper arching, governed by the competing gravity-driven force against flow resistance from material internal friction and material–wall friction, can be controlled by the hopper wall friction angle and the inclination angle; and (3) flow throughput can be accurately estimated from our empirical equation with inputs of hopper outlet geometry and particle-scale to bulk-scale material attributes. This study elucidates woody biomass flow physics and provides guidance for industrial equipment design.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC07-05ID14517

OSTI ID:: 1922899

Report Number(s):: INL/JOU-22-68698-Rev000

Journal Information:: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, Journal Name: ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering Journal Issue: 50 Vol. 10; ISSN 2168-0485

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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