Additive used in the production of wood pellets

Abstract

An additive used in the production of wood pellets to increase throughput. The additive may be applied as a booster to wood prior to forming the wood into pellets. The booster may comprise 30% to 100% tall oil pitch and 70% to 0% tall oil head and may be applied at a rate of 0.01 to 2 wt. % of the wood.

Claims

1. A method of producing wood pellets comprising: applying a booster to wood, where the booster comprises tall oil pitch and tall oil head; and forming the wood into wood pellets, where the application of the booster results in increased throughput of the wood pellets compared to throughput of wood pellets formed from wood without the booster.

2. The method of claim 1 where the booster comprises: 30% to 99% tall oil pitch; and 70% to 1% tall oil head.

3. The method of claim 2 where the booster comprises: 70% to 99% tall oil pitch; and 30% to 1% tall oil head.

4. The method of claim 3 where the booster comprises: 85% tall oil pitch; and 15% tall oil head.

5. The method of claim 1 where the booster is applied to the wood at a rate of 0.01 to 2 wt. % of the wood.

6. The method of claim 5 where the booster is applied at a rate of 0.1 wt. % of the wood.

7. The method of claim 1 where the booster lubricates the wood and allows the wood pellets to be formed with less energy than would be required to form wood pellets from wood without the booster.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising preparing the wood for pellet formation prior to applying the booster to the wood.

9. The method of claim 8 where the wood is wood meal and where preparing the wood comprises grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

10. The method of claim 8 where the wood is wood meal and where preparing the wood comprises conditioning the wood meal prior to applying the booster to the wood.

11. The method of claim 8 where the wood is wood chips, where preparing the wood comprises processing the wood chips to wood meal, and where applying the booster to the wood comprises applying the booster to the wood meal after processing the wood chips to wood meal.

12. The method of claim 11 where preparing the wood further comprises grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

13. The method of claim 11 where preparing the wood further comprises conditioning the wood meal prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

14. The method of claim 11 further comprising grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution after applying the booster to the wood meal.

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising conditioning the wood meal after applying the booster to the wood meal.

16. The method of claim 1 further comprising preparing the wood for pellet formation after applying the booster to the wood, where preparing the wood for pellet formation comprises one or more of the following: processing wood chips to wood meal; grinding wood meal to a desired size distribution; and/or conditioning wood meal.

17. The method of claim 1 where forming the wood into wood pellets comprises placing the wood into a pelletizing mill, forcing the wood into a die, and compressing the wood into wood pellets.

18. The method of claim 1 where applying the booster to the wood comprises spraying the booster onto the wood.

19. The method of claim 1 where the application of the booster does not result in decreased quality of the wood pellets compared wood pellets formed from wood without the booster.

20. The method of claim 1 where the booster does not increase the elasticity of the wood pellets.

21. The method of claim 1 where the booster does not function as a binder within the wood pellets.

22. A wood pellet produced by a process comprising the steps of: applying a booster to wood, where the booster comprises tall oil pitch and tall oil head; and forming the wood into wood pellets, where the application of the booster results in increased throughput of the wood pellets compared to throughput of wood pellets formed from wood without the booster.

23. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the booster comprises: 30% to 99% tall oil pitch; and 70% to 1% tall oil head.

24. The wood pellet of claim 23 where the booster comprises: 70% to 99% tall oil pitch; and 30% to 1% tall oil head.

25. The wood pellet of claim 24 where the booster comprises: 85% tall oil pitch; and 15% tall oil head.

26. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the booster comprises 0.01 to 2 wt. % of the wood pellet.

27. The wood pellet of claim 26 where the booster comprises 0.1 wt. % of the wood pellet.

28. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the booster lubricates the wood and allows the wood pellets to be formed with less energy than would be required to form wood pellets from wood without the booster.

29. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the steps further comprise preparing the wood for pellet formation prior to applying the booster to the wood.

30. The wood pellet of claim 29 where the wood is wood meal and where preparing the wood comprises grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

31. The wood pellet of claim 29 where the wood is wood meal and where preparing the wood comprises conditioning the wood meal prior to applying the booster to the wood.

32. The wood pellet of claim 29 where the wood is wood chips, where preparing the wood comprises processing the wood chips to wood meal, and where applying the booster to the wood comprises applying the booster to the wood meal after processing the wood chips to wood meal.

33. The wood pellet of claim 32 where preparing the wood further comprises grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

34. The wood pellet of claim 32 where preparing the wood further comprises conditioning the wood meal prior to applying the booster to the wood meal.

35. The wood pellet of claim 32 further comprising grinding the wood meal to a desired size distribution after applying the booster to the wood meal.

36. The wood pellet of claim 32 further comprising conditioning the wood meal after applying the booster to the wood meal.

37. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the steps further comprise preparing the wood for pellet formation after applying the booster to the wood, where preparing the wood for pellet formation comprises one or more of the following: processing wood chips to wood meal; grinding wood meal to a desired size distribution; and/or conditioning wood meal.

38. The wood pellet of claim 22 where forming the wood into wood pellets comprises placing the wood into a pelletizing mill, forcing the wood into a die, and compressing the wood into wood pellets.

39. The wood pellet of claim 22 where applying the booster to the wood comprises spraying the booster onto the wood.

40. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the application of the booster does not result in decreased quality of the wood pellets compared wood pellets formed from wood without the booster.

41. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the booster does not increase the elasticity of the wood pellets.

42. The wood pellet of claim 22 where the booster does not function as a binder within the wood pellets.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(1) The devices and methods discussed herein are merely illustrative of specific manners in which to make and use this invention and are not to be interpreted as limiting in scope.

(2) While the devices and methods have been described with a certain degree of particularity, it is to be noted that many modifications may be made in the details of the construction and the arrangement of the devices and components without departing from the spirit and scope of this disclosure. It is understood that the devices and methods are not limited to the embodiments set forth herein for purposes of exemplification.

(3) In general, in a first aspect, the invention relates to a novel throughput booster for use in the wood pellet manufacturing process. While reference is made throughout to wood pellets and the wood pellet manufacturing process, the same booster may be utilized in the manufacture of other materials to similar effect. In particular, the booster may be used in the production of other biomasses and/or energy pellets, such as in the production of bagasse.

(4) The booster may increase pellet mill production throughput. The booster may also increase pellet quality preservation, which feature is normally difficult to attain. The booster may lower the energy required to form the pellet in the pellet die, for example by lubricating the wood meal that is being forced into the die, which may extend the service life of the pellet die.

(5) The wood pellet manufacture process may begin by preparing wood chips into wood meal. This may include grinding soft wood, such as pine, or hard wood, such as beech, to a particular size distribution to generate the wood meal. The wood meal may then be conditioned, such as by steam. The conditioned wood meal may then be placed into a pelletizing mill, where it is forced into a die and compressed into wood pellets.

(6) The booster of the present invention may be applied to the wood meal right after conditioning and before the wood meal is placed into the pelletizing mill. Additionally or alternately, the booster of the present invention may be applied to the wood meal prior to conditioning. Additionally or alternately, the booster of the present invention may be applied to the wood chips prior to processing the wood chips into wood meal.

(7) The booster may be applied via spraying, or via any other desired form of application. For example, the booster may be applied in a continuous manner through spraying, dripping, and/or dipping the conditioned wood chips/meal while on a moving belt or while falling, or may be applied using a rotary drum mixer, a ribbon blender with soft ribbon and soft wall, a continuous dip coater, or other machine.

(8) The booster may comprise one or more of the following: pine chemical fractions such as crude tall oil, distilled tall oil, tall oil fatty acids, tall oil rosin, tall oil pitch, wood rosin, gum rosin, and/or tall oil heads; lignin or hydrophobic lignin (functionalized lignin with hydrophobic chain); starch; non-food use sustainable wax such as natural alcohol bottoms; cellulose derivatives, hemicellulose, animal and/or vegetable fatty acids and/or oils; and/or any combination thereof. In particular, the booster may be a blend of tall oil pitch and tall oil head. For example, the booster may be a blend of approximately 30% to 100% tall oil pitch and approximately 70% to 0% tall oil head. More particularly, the booster may be a blend of 85% tall oil pitch and 15% tall oil head. The booster may be applied at a dosage rate of 0.01 to 2 wt. % of the wood meal. More particularly, the booster may be applied at a dosage rate of 0.1 wt. %. The use of the booster may result in increased throughput. The increase in throughput may not be associated with decreased quality of the resultant wood pellets, either in terms of percent fines, percent moisture content, bulk density, or mechanical durability.

(9) The booster may be used in conjunction with further optimization of the pellet manufacture process. For example, the booster may be used in conjunction with die modification or other process changes that may be combined to increase throughput and also make quality pellets.

(10) The resultant wood pellets may be 1 long and in diameter, or any other desired size. They may be made of compressed wood. The wood pellets may not comprise torrified wood.

(11) The booster may not increase the elasticity of the wood pellets. The booster may be heated for mixing and/or application but may still be spreadable after cooling. The booster may not have the appropriate properties and/or may not be applied in appropriate quantities to function as a binder within the wood pellets. In particular, less of the booster may be used than the amount of similar material required for use as or in a binder. This decreases the cost of the finished product, as compared to a wood pellet with the same materials used as a binder.

(12) The booster and resultant wood pellets may be green and sustainable. Alternately, conventional non-green and non-sustainable booster elements may be applied, either alone or in combination with green and sustainable elements.

EXAMPLES

(13) In both examples, testing was conducted at a wood pellet pilot plant with a throughput of approximately 300 kg/hour. A 6 mm die with a compression ratio of 1 to 4 was used. In the plant, shaves of soft wood, namely pine, or hardwood, namely beech, were pre-grinded in a hammer mill to have a particle size distribution of greater than 90% with particles smaller than 1.345 mm. The wood meal was conditioned using steam, and then a wood pellet throughput booster designated BOOSTER SAMPLE A was sprayed onto the conditioned wood meal before it entered into the pelletizing mill. Wood pellets collected at the outlet of the pelletizing mill were subjected to quality tests, including determining percent fines, mechanical durability, bulk density, and percent moisture content.

(14) BOOSTER SAMPLE A had a composition of 85% tall oil pitch and 15% tall oil head.

Example 1

(15) Hardwood (beech) based wood meal was used for this test. The dosage of BOOSTER SAMPLE A was 0.1 wt % of the wood meal. The results are summarized in Table 1 below.

(16) TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Summary Qualities of the Hardwood based Wood pellets (0.1 wt. % BOOSTER SAMPLE A Booster) % % Moisture Moisture Content of Bulk Content of the Pellets Density % Type of Wood Throughput the Pellets after (kg/m3) Mechanical Pellets (kg/hr) % Fines Hot Cooling Cool Durability Control (No 298 0.42 10 7.0 668 98.0 Booster) With 0.1 Wt. % 298 0.50 9.5 7.6 668 98.4 Booster With 0.1 Wt. % 340 0.53 6.6 4.8 672 98.3 Booster

(17) Wood pellet production throughput was increased approximately 14.1% without sacrificing the quality in percent fines, percent moisture content, bulk density, and mechanical durability. Typically, wood pellets should have a percent fines less than 1.75, percent moisture content less than 8.5, bulk density greater than 620, and mechanical durability greater than 98%. The wood pellets produced with increased throughput remained within these parameters.

Example 2

(18) Softwood (pine) based wood meal was used for this test. The dosage of BOOSTER SAMPLE A was 0.1 wt % of the wood meal. The results are summarized in Table 2 below.

(19) TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Summary Qualities of the Softwood based Wood pellets (0.1 wt. % BOOSTER SAMPLE A Booster) % % Moisture Moisture Content of Bulk Content of the Pellets Density % Type of Wood Throughput the Pellets after (kg/m3) Mechanical Pellets (kg/hr) % Fines Hot Cooling Cool Durability Control (No 350 0.5 7 3.6 684 97.89 Booster) With 0.1 Wt. % 350 0.8 7 3.5 672 95.47 Booster With 0.1 Wt. % 400 1.1 6.8 3.7 694 97.60 Booster With 0.1 Wt. % 430 0.50 6.5 3.5 684 97.91 Booster

(20) Wood pellet production throughput was increased approximately 23% without sacrificing the quality in percent fines, percent moisture content, and bulk density, which all remained within typically desirable parameters. Mechanical durability is inherently lower with softwood than with hardwood, but the use of the booster did not result in a significant reduction in mechanical durability compared with the control. While this particular system was not optimized for soft wood pellets, further optimization to the process could increase mechanical durability and such changes are compatible with the use of the booster according to the present invention.

(21) Whereas, the devices and methods have been described in relation to the drawings and claims, it should be understood that other and further modifications, apart from those shown or suggested herein, may be made within the spirit and scope of this invention.