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3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

Study of thermal efficiency of biomass carbonizing by direct

method

O Nurhilal*, S Suryaningsih and I Indrana

1
Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas
Padjadjaran, Jl. Raya Bandung Sumedang km 21 Jatinangor Sumedang West Jawa
45363 Indonesia

*
[email protected]

Abstract. In this study, we have designed a carbonization furnace comprising a combustion

and a carbonization chamber. To know the performance of carbonization furnace, we
calculated the thermal efficiency using direct method. Biomass that were used as a test material
are rice husk and corn cob. We found that the highest temperature for 1.0 kg of wood fuel of
combustion chamber and carbonization chamber are 648°C and 459°C, respectively. Each of
the biomass has been carbonized three times at different average carbonization temperatures. It
is found that the highest thermal efficiency was 2.82% and 4.43% for rice huks and corn cob,
with carbonization temperature of 405.24°C and 399.80°C, respectively.

1. Introduction
Biomass is material forming from organic compound that using for energy production. The organic
compound is coming from living species such as plants and animals [1]. There are two techniques for
converting biomass into energy production or fuel. One of these techniques is thermochemistry. There
are three thermochemical techniques, namely carbonization, phyrolysis, and gasification.
Carbonization is a technique to obtain charcoal as the main product by heating biomass at 400°C-
600°C in the almost or complete absence of air or oxygen. The main objective of carbonization is to
increase the calorific value of charcoal [2]. The carbonization process can be carried out using a
furnace having a fuel chamber as the heat generator and a carbonization chamber as the heat receiver.
Generally, the heat generator is producted from hot gas or electrical heater to get high temperatures.
However, the use of hot gas or electrical heater required a high energy comsumption. To get a furnace
with low energy consumption, it is necessary to design a simple furnace for carbonizing biomass
sample. In this research, we designed simple furnace and performed carbonization of biomass sample
using biomass waste as a fuel heat generator. The biomass to be carbonized was rice husks and
corncobs, while the fuel for combustion was biomass waste from woods. Here, we studied thermal
efficiency of heat transfer in the simple furnace for rice husks and corncobs samples in various
temperatures.

2. Methodology
This research begins by designing a simple carbonization furnace. The simple furnace consists of two
chambers that serve as a space for fuel and space for carbonization. The dimension of each chamber
was 27 cm in diematers and 30 cm in hight, as shown in figure 1. In the carbonization chamber, a good

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Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

heat distribution is required to make carbonization homogeniously. The cylindrical shape is chosen so
that the heat spread homogeniously in all area of chamber. To reduce the heat loss, the carbonization
chamber is coated on the outer wall by insulators form. For temperature control, K-type thermocouples
are used. Furnace used for carbonization are designed to be simple with fuel from wood waste and
small electrical energy for blowers.
Diameter 12 cm

d
c 30 cm

b
30 cm

a
Diameter 27 cm

Figure 1. Design of simple furnace included (a) space of ash, (b) combustion chamber, (c)
carbonization chamber and (d) chimney.
To know the temperature generated in the carbonization chamber, one kilogram of wood is burned
in the combustion chamber. The amount of temperature produced is measured by the thermocouple.
To determine the performance of the carbonization furnace, 250 grams of biomass each from rice husk
and corncob has been carbonized on three different mean temperature variations.
Based on data of mean carbonization temperature measurement, carbonization time and other
parameters then calculated thermal efficiency by direct method. This method was chosen because of
simple calculation involved only two parameters, namely output heat transferred to the biomass ( Qout )
and the total heat of the fuel input ( Qin ). The equation to find the value of thermal efficiency was
shown in equation (1) [4].
Qout
  100% (1)
Qin
where  is thermal efficiency in percentage. The value of Qout can be obtained from equation (2).

Qout = mB  cB  ΔT (2)

where m B is mass of biomass (kg), cB is specific heat capacity of biomass (kJ/kg°C), and ∆T is
surrounding and carbonization temperature difference (°C). The value of Qin can be obtained from
equation (3).
Qin  Q f  Qe (3)

2
3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

where Q f is input energy from fuel (kJ), Q e is electrical energy of blower (kJ). Both values can be
obtained from equation (4) and (5).
Q f  m f  HHV f (4)

Qe  V  I  tb (5)

where mf is mass of fuel (kg), HHVf is hight heating value of fuel, the value of HHVf of woods is
8352.67 kJ/kg, V is voltage of blower (Volt), I is current of blower (Ampere), and tb is time of blower
(second).

3. Result and Discussion

3.1 The test of combustion and carbonization chamber temperature without biomass
The first test of the simple furnace was measuring the temperature distibution in combustion chamber
using waste biomass of 1.0 kg of firewood without biomass in carbonization chamber. To increase
temperature in combustion chamber, the air suppliers is needed using the blower with a voltage of 12
Volt and current of 1.2 Ampere. The result of temperature distribution in combustion chamber and
carbonization chamber is shown in figure 2.
700
600
Temperature (oC)

500
400
300
200
100
0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Time (minute)

Figure 2. The graph of temperature distribution for every minutes in combustion chamber ( ) and
carbonization chamber (x).
The temperature difference in the combustion and carbonization chamber indicated the evidence of
heat loss in the carbonization chamber. The heat loss is due to convection and radiation processes in
the carbonization furnace. The value of temperatures in carbonization chamber was reaching to 459°C,
which qualified for carbonization processes [3].

3.2 Measurement of mean biomass carbonization temperature

The process of carbonizing rice husks and corncobs is done three times at different temperatures. The
mean temperature of carbonization for rice husk and corncob during the time of carbonization are
shown in figure 3, 4 and 5, respectively.

3
3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

400 400
Temperature (°C)

Temperature (°C)
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
0 50 100 150 0 50 100
Time (minute) Time (minute)

(a) (b)
Figure 3. Temperature of carbonization ( ) and combustion chamber () (a) rice husk and (b)
corncob at setting temperature 200°C.

600 500
Temperature (°C)

Temperature (°C)
500 400
400
300
300
200 200
100 100
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40
Time (minute) Time (minute)

(a) (b)
Figure 4. Temperature of carbonization ( ) and combustion chamber () (a) rice husk and (b)
corncob at setting temperature 300°C.

600 600
Temperature (°C)
Temperature (°C)

500 500
400 400
300 300
200 200
100 100
0 0
0 10 20 30 40 0 10 20 30
Time (minute) Time (minute)

(a) (b)
Figure 5. Temperature of carbonization ( ) and combustion chamber () (a) rice husk and (b)
corncob at setting temperature 400°C.
The end of carbonization process is determined based on direct observation of carbonized charcoal. If
all the biomass samples have turned into charcoal in a homogeneous fashion, then the carbonization
process is stopped. How long it takes for the carbonization process depends on the carbonization
temperature and the biomass type. The carbonization time (tc), the surrounding temperature (Ts) before
carbonization and the value of average temperature of carbonization ( Tc ) are listed in table 1.

4
3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

Table 1. The value of carbonisasi time, surrounding and average temperature of carbonization.
Biomass t c (min) Ts (°C) Tc (°C)
120 25 213.88
Ricehusk 75 24 294.81
35 24 405.24
75 25 213.44
Corncob 30 25 319.14
20 24 399.80

Based on table 1 it is seen that the greater the average temperature of carbonization, the time
required during the carbonization process is smaller. It also appears that the process of carbonizing
corncobs is faster than rice husks. In the process of carbonization, the average temperature increase is
determined by the supply of fuel and air delivery into the combustion chamber through the blower.
The air provided will improve the fuel combustion process. Thus, the heating energy generated by the
combustion chamber comes from the fuel energy and electrical energy of the blower. The amount of
electrical energy provided depends on the voltage, current and time of giving air (tb) during the process
of carbonization takes place.

3.3 The thermal efficiency

The thermal efficiency and various parameters values of rice husks and corncobs calculated by
equations (1) to (5) are listed in table 2. The spesific calorie for rice husk and corncob is 2.772
kJ/kg°C [5] and 1.189 kJ/kg°C [6], respectively.
Table 2. Various parameters and the thermal efficiency value of rice husk and corncob.

T mf mB tb Qe Qf Qin Qout η
Biomass
(°C) (gr) (gr) (sec) (kJ) (kJ) (kJ) (kJ) (%)

188.9 1000 250 7200 103.68 8352.67 8456.35 131.53 1.56

Rice husk 270.8 1050 250 4500 64.80 8770.00 8835.10 187.66 2.12
381.2 1118 250 2100 35.28 9338.30 9373.57 264.10 2.82
188.4 400 250 4500 64.80 3341.10 3405.87 56.20 1.65
Corncob 294.1 500 250 1800 25.92 4176.34 4202.26 87.57 2.08
395.8 300 250 1200 17.28 2497.70 2514.98 111.52 4.43

The relationship between thermal efficiency and average temperature of carbonization has been
illustrated in figure 6. Based on the curve in figure 6 it shows that the greater the average temperature
of carbonization, the value of the thermal efficiency increases. This shows that at high carbonization
temperature will cause the absorption of energy by carbonization samples getting better. Based on the
time review, the higher the carbonization temperature then the time required for the carbonization
process is getting shorter. The value of thermal efficiency of rice husk is various in between 1.56%
and 2.82%. The highest value of  for rice husk was resulted with average carbonization temperature
of 405.1°C. For corncob, the value of  is in the range between 1.65% and 4.43% with the highest
value of  was resulted with average carbonization temperature of 399.8°C. The value of thermal
efficiency of rice husk less than corncob. It is due to the calorivic value of rice husk less than corncob.
The calorivic value of rice husk and corncob is 14.310 kJ/kg [5] and 17.620 kJ/kg [6], respectively.

5
3rd Padjadjaran International Physics Symposium IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Journal of Physics: Conf. Series 1080 (2018)
1234567890 ‘’“” 012024 doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1080/1/012024

Figure 6. The curve of the thermal efficiency value as a function of the average temperature of
carbonization.

4. Conclusion
Based on the results and discussion it is concluded that the designed carbonization furnace can be used
for carbon biomass process with carbonization temperature reaching 459°C. Fuel used as a source of
heat in the form of waste wood easily obtained. To increase the temperature in the combustion
chamber is assisted with a blower with low electrical energy. It is found that the highest thermal
efficiency was 2.82% and 4.43% for rice huks and corncob with carbonization temperature of
405.24°C and 399.80°C, respectively.

References
[1] Basu P 2010 Biomass gasification and pyrolysis : practical design and theory (United
Kingdom: Elsevier, The Boulevard, Langford Lane Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB)
[2] Yokohama S 2008 The Asian Biomass Handbook (The Japan Institute of Energy) p 107
[3] Speight J G 1994 The Chemistry and Technology of Coal 2nd Edition (New York: Macel
Dekker)
[4] Patel C T, Patel B K and Patel V K 2013 International Journal of Innovative Research in
Science, Engineering and Technology 2 1518
[5] Mishra P et al. 1987 Journal of Materials Science 21 2129
[6] Fang Z 1993 Journal Fuel Science and Technology International 11 1037