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2017

Still, solid biomass is an upcoming market not only for power generation but a large growth is foreseen in the production of bio‐chemicals. So far the focus in the field is mainly on developing new techniques for generation and production and less on the transport and logistics involved for the supply of raw material. People easily assume based on years of experience that any material can be handled with available or existing equipment. However, today sustainability aspects are much more important and the design of material handling systems has to account for aspects such as particle degradation, dust formation, environmental impact and power saving.

Although similar material and material equipment interactions are present with handling of any material, research on large‐scale handling of biomass is relatively new. The design of equipment should take into account the different nature and characteristics of the material as well as the response of the material to the equipment and vice versa. Simply using existing equipment for other materials is not always efficient; it might result in under performance in terms of throughput as well as sustainability aspects as power consumption and dust emissions.

This paper will discuss the handling of biomass from an equipment perspective partly based on particle based simulations. It addresses the relations between the characteristics of biomass materials and equipment used at small and large‐scale terminals. Furthermore the focus expands towards the system and network perspective to address the inland logistics of the biomass handling chain.

Dr Dingena Schott
Associate Professor
TU Delft
Netherlands