PELET: Fabricación y evaluación de PELLETS de especies forestales utilizadas en reforestación comercial en Costa Ri

PELET: Fabricación y evaluación de PELLETS de especies forestales utilizadas en reforestación comercial en Costa Rica

Pellets  may  be  produced  with  different  types  of  agriculture  or  forestry crops  in Costa  Rica.  This  work  evaluated  the  energy,  physical,and mechanical  properties  of  pellets  fabricated  from 12types  of  agricultural and  forestry  crops  (Ananas  cumosos,Arundo  donax,Coffea  arabica,Cupressus lusitanica,empty fruit bunch and oil palm mesocarp fiber of the fruit of Elaeis guineensis,Gynerium sagittatum,Pennisetum  purpureum,Phyllostachys   aurea,Saccharum   officinarum,Sorghum   bicolor,and Tectona grandis),and similaritiesamongthese crops wereestablished by multivariate principal componentanalysis. High variation was found in the pellet properties. The energy evaluation revealed that C. lusitanica and P. aurea are  the  crops  with  the  best  qualities  for  fuel  use because  oftheir high calorific values (from 16807 kJ/kg and 19919 kJ/kg, respectively) and low  ash  content(1.03%  and   3.39%,  respectively).  As  for   physical properties, most crops exhibitedvalues within the range noted by several authors and standards. All 12pellet crops displayed high durability (from 72.12% to 92.98%)and compression force(from 295.18 N to 691.86 N). Moreover, the evaluation of crop similarities allowed the determination of four group combinations. Within these groups, C. lusitanica, P. aurea, and G.   sagittatum hadsimilar   energy   qualities   and   the   best caloric characteristics.