Secagem de bagaço de cana em leito fixo.

Abstract

Currently, in view of the need to reduce the import of petroleum in the country, the use of renewable energy sources, of which sugarcane bagasse represents an alternative that must be increasingly rationally used, is even more pressing. One way of rationalizing its use is to subject it to the drying process before using it as fuel. Dryer bagasse allows a higher production of steam per kilogram of bagasse in the mills and, consequently, an increase in surpluses, which can be used for both energetic and industrial purposes. The latter as raw material in the production of paper and cellulose, furfural, steel coal, animal feed, etc. Our objective, in view of the above, was to study the drying of thin layer sugarcane bagasse in a fixed bed with upward flow of heated air. The experiments were carried out under different conditions of temperature and drying air flow, bed height and initial moisture of the sample. The influence of these variables was analyzed from the drying curves. Based on the results obtained, two models were proposed: Da Potência and Coura and Alsina modified. It was verified that both models allow to predict the kinetic behavior of sugarcane bagasse for large drying times. However, the power model proved to be flawed in the prediction of the initial instants of drying, which is overcome by using the second proposed model. It is concluded that the modified Coura and Alsina model satisfactorily describes the drying behavior of cane bagasse in fixed bed in the operational range studied.