Data for dimensioning of a NOWEAR downsizer

The purpose of this project is to obtain a foundation for dimensioning of a NOWEAR downsizer. The NOWEAR downsizer is an inertia mill that downsizes biomass by accelerating and decelerating biomass a well-defined number of times. The technology is developed by TK Energy and initial experiments shows significant lower power consumption than commercial hammermills for downsizing to the same particle size. In order to be able to finish the technology, a dimensioning foundation has to be established, where the correlation is established between degree of downsizing, temperature, moisture content and velocity of impact. Drawings of the NOWEAR downsizer are presented in the attached appendix.

In this project a test facility will be constructed, where the biomass is hit one time with a well-defined velocity between 50 and 250 m/s. The downsized biomass will be collected and analyzed for particle size and morphology. An important factor when downsizing is the moisture content of the biomass. Thus, experiment will be conducted with different moisture content between 0 and 50%. At approximately 120°C has wood a glass point where the strength of the wood is significantly less than at room temperature. Therefore downsizing of wood at the glass point will be compared to downsizing at room temperature. Furthermore, the difference in downsizing soft and hard wood and wood pellets will be examined.

In a number of contexts is there a demand for downsizing the biomass in order to obtain the right properties for a further process. Examples can be downsizing of wood pellets or chips for firing at power plants or production of wood pellets. I these systems, hammermills are usually used. The hammermills are characterized by high energy consumption and large degree of wear. The results of this project will be used to dimensioning and optimizing the NOWEAR technology, in order to make it a competitive competitor to the hammermills.

This limited project will be conducted by TK Energy alone with the purpose of a subsequent commercialization of the NOWEAR technology with the first focus on the power plants in Denmark.