Estimation of Energy Consumption and Production in Woody Biomass Pulverization with a Multiple Tube Vibration Mill

Scale-up estimation of woody biomass pulverization with newly developed multiple tube vibration mill (MTVM) was carried out. Pulverization ability in large size MTVM was estimated based on a lab.-scale pulverization experiment. In this estimation, pulverization pot arrangement was changed for the scale up, and optimum pulverization condition of woody biomass in MTVM was calculated in terms of productivity of woody powder and consumed energy per production. To understand the MTVM capability, pulverization performance of MTVM was compared with that of a conventional single pot vibration mill. MTVM have a big advantage over a conventional vibration mill in woody biomass pulverization, and the difference of the MTVM pulverization capability become more significant with increasing the pot size. Applying stage graining method, low crystallinity woody powder (crystallinity index <10%) can be produced around 1.2 t/h with 1.0 GJ/t by an industrial-scale MTVM. Consequently, total energy consumption in woody biomass pulverization process including coarse grinding, middle grinding and fine grinding, became 1.48 GJ/t.