Development of a real-time drying control system for a pneumatic conveying dryer for sawdust in pellet production

This study presents a real-time drying control system that was developed to control air drying of sawdust in a pneumatic conveying dryer to produce high-grade wood pellets in the range of the target moisture content (MC). The real-time drying control system was installed with moisture sensors to con...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Energy (Oxford) 2018-10, Vol.161, p.10-16
Main Authors: Euh, Seung Hee, Choi, Yun Sung, Nam, Yun Sung, Lee, Chung Gun, Lee, Sang Yeol, Oh, Kwang Cheol, Oh, Jae Heun, Kim, Dae Hyun
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air drying
Buffer
Buffers
Control systems
Conveying
Drying
Moisture
Moisture content
Pelleting
Pneumatic conveying dryer
Pneumatic conveyors
Pneumatics
Real time
Real-time drying control system
Sawdust
Water content
Wood
Wood pellet plant
Wood waste
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Summary:This study presents a real-time drying control system that was developed to control air drying of sawdust in a pneumatic conveying dryer to produce high-grade wood pellets in the range of the target moisture content (MC). The real-time drying control system was installed with moisture sensors to control the ON/OFF periods of the fuel (pellet) supply motor for the sawdust to generate the heat necessary to dry the sawdust to an optimum level of 15% moisture content for pelletizing. The results of the experiment and the simulation showed that the drying efficiency improved when a buffer was introduced instead of using a conventional system, and the average moisture content of the dried sawdust was measured to be about 12.4% in a pneumatic conveying dryer without buffer and about 14.7%–15.2% in the developed real-time drying control system. This study shows that the real-time drying control system could dry the sawdust to the targeted constant moisture content, and the buffer in the pneumatic conveying dryer could improve the drying efficiency according to an increase in the resident time of the sawdust. •A real-time drying control system was developed to control the air drying process for sawdust in a pneumatic conveying dryer.•Drying efficiency was improved when the buffer was present instead of the conventional system.•The real-time drying control system dries the sawdust with constant range compared to the initial moisture content.
ISSN:0360-5442
1873-6785
DOI:10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.056