Solid fuel heat capacity assessment through lignocellulosic coffee waste (Coffea spp) facing espino wood (Vachellia macracantha) and eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus labill)

Abstract

Ecuador has launched the change of the energy matrix as a strategy to reinforce the economic and social development, using sustainably primary energy sources and hanging consumption patterns in different sectors of the economy, thus promoting its rational and efficient use. One of the energy resources still used in rural areas is wood in certain productive activities that require energy for their cooking process, as in the case of the production of bricks, bread, brown sugar, and handmade pots or chimneys whose energy consumption press strongly on forests, producing deforestation and thereby causing the loss of biodiversity in different ecosystems. In the country, a great deal of coffee husk is produced, this material is the endocarp of the grain, removed during the industrial phase and whose waste causes environmental pollution because it ends in a river or is burned. However, it is a strategic material for its content of lignocellulose which releases a large amount of energy when it is burned. This research shows that coffee shell forming a solid block (briquette), exceeds conventional wood by its heating value. The compacted briquette achieves 4162, 31 K. cal. Kg-1, and if its density is improved by grinding the material it reaches 4319.98 K. cal. Kg-1. Compared with eucalyptus wood 2173.90 K. cal. Kg-1 and Espino 2236.24 K. cal. Kg-1 there is a highly significant difference, so it is concluded that the compacted biomass is a high calorific value alternative energy and can be used for its energy efficiency as a strategy to reduce the pressure on forests and avoid deforestation and its negative effects.