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Eichhornia crassipes: A new energy source for biopellets production

Abstract:

Biomass from Eichhornia crassipes is considered an invasive undergrowth with a great ability to adapt itself to the conditions of water bodies producing ecological, economic and social risks in the area. Therefore, this paper focuses on the study of the energy potential of Eichhornia crassipes from ¨El Lago Park¨, located near the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador. Several pellet configurations in size and composition (leaves and stems) were made using a pellet machine and finally burned in a combustion chamber for evaluation of the energy potential by means of high heat value and ash content. Other physicochemical analyses such as density, durability, volatile material and chemical characterization were also performed. Finally, the selection of the most energy efficient pellet configuration was made taking into consideration the EN 14961-6 international pellet quality standard. The best configuration was 6 mm in diameter with a composition of 100% leaves, with a high heat value of 15.87 MJkg-1. The energy potential of Eichhornia crassipes is good enough for its application as solid densified biofuel.