Sumitomo Wiring Systems Ltd.

Recently, biomasses attract much attention as a renewable energy resource.Biocoke, hereinafter called BIC, is one of the solid biomass fuels that are made from woody or herbaceous biomass by heat and compression processes.BIC is highly dense, has high hardness, has a high energy d., and is expected to be an alternative to coal coke.In the present study, the carbonization and combustion properties of a green tea BIC and a cypress BIC are exptl. examinedThe exptl. results show that the carbon residue of the BICs is higher than that of raw wood in spite being of the same material.Further, the weight reduction curve during the combustion process of the BIC carbide is similar to that of charcoal when the carbonization temperature is higher than 673 K.Consequently, it is considered that the BIC can maintain adequate hardness even if it is carbonized at the upper portion of a cupola furnace, and bums as an alternative to coal coke in the coke bed at the bottom of the cupola furnace.