Bio-Energy Potential From Lemon Orchards

Abstract

Biomass has increasing popularity day by day as the fossil fuel sources consumed away in the world. Biomass can be both plant based and animal based residues. The potential of plant based biomass resources is huge but, most of these sources are idle. Not used for any purposes unfortunately. Pruning residues from fruit orchards are a good solution to compensate this energy source. Lemon is a popular fruit especially in the Mediterranean region of Turkey. Thus, is a good source for biomass. In this study, the pruning residues of lemon trees were converted into solid bio-fuel in the form of pellets. Thermal properties such as; gross calorific value, ash content and flue gas emissions of the produced pellets were analyzed. Also, some physical mechanical properties were determined. Bulk and pellet particle densities were 521.33 and 1236.70kg.m(-3), respectively. Firmness of the pellets was 2951 N and mechanical durability (MD) was 88.57%. Results showed us that the pruning residues of lemon orchards could be a good solution to be utilized as solid bio-fuel both in terms of physical-mechanical and thermal properties.