[4-1015-D] Food Quality (1)

[4-1015-D-01] Effects of Operational Conditions of Internal Combustion Furnace on rice husk Biochar and vinegar

*WEI-PUO KUO¹, YUTAKA KITAMURA², Yoshiyuki HARA⁴, CHING-CHEN HSIEH³, YI-HUNG LIN³, CHEN-PIN CHEN¹ (1. Taiwan Agricultural Machinery and Biomechatromics Engineering Technology Development Association(Taiwan), 2. University of Tsukuba(Japan), 3. National Pingtung University of Science and Technology(Taiwan), 4. Hokkaido Agricultural Experiment Station(Japan))

Keywords:Rice husk, ICF Internal Combustion Furnace, Bio vinegar , Biochar, Sustainable Agriculture

Traditionally, it is very difficult to make rice hulls useful industrial or agricultural products. Most of them are used as the bedding for cattle farms or even burned as fertilizers. The composition of rice hulls is actually very unique in nature. It contains approximately 20% opaline silica in combination with a large amount of the phenyl propanoid structural polymers called lignin. This abundant agricultural waste has all of the properties qualified with excellent insulating materials. Recent researches revealed that rice hulls are not very flammable and are highly resistant to moisture penetration and fungal decomposition. Moreover, rice hulls do not transfer heat very well, smell or emit gases, and are not corrosive with respect to aluminum, copper or steel. In the natural form, the rice hull is classified as a Class A or Class I insulation material, and therefore, can be used very economically to insulate the wall, floor and roof cavities of a house.
In order to extent the application of rice hulls, an innovative Internal Combustion Furnace (ICF) was developed to produce two type of bio-products, such as rice husk biochar and rice husk vinegar, respectively. Rice husk was produced by dried rice hulls that is firstly anaerobic smoked in ICB. Carbonized rice husks or biochar and rice husk vinegar are produced at the same time, which can be recycled in farmland. This approach made significant contributions to nature's sustainable management of agricultural wastes.
In Taiwan. However, the optimal conditions for operating ICF, including temperature, time, and composition of raw materials, are necessary to be determined, so that the good quality and quantity of biochar and biovinegar can be maintained. In this experiment, the ratio of gray matter and carbon was measured to understand carbonization rate as well as the quality of biochar and biovinegar with varying the opening of damper or the furnace air intake. In particular, 9 experiments on burning carbonized rice husks were conducted at 5, 7.5 and 10 mm opening of the damper. Along with the experimental chart, we could figure out that chimney temperature (front and end) and combustor temperature (top and bottom) have a positive relation to the opening width. The amount of biovinegar with cooling water is more than the one without cooling water. The wider the damper got, the higher the ratio of carbon and dust or ash volume.