Investigation of Mixing Ratio for Blended Biomass Pellet from Cassava Rhizome and Bagasse on Physical Characteristic and Energy Cost Analysis

Biomass fuels can play a vital role in decreasing the current problem of global warming and climate change. Solid fuels such as biomass pellets can be used to replace coal. This study aimed to investigate the effect of mixing ratio for blended biomass pellets from cassava rhizome and bagasse on physical characteristics and energy cost analysis. The mixing ratio of cassava rhizome and sugar cane bagasse was blended with a different mixing ratio. The bagasse content was varied from 0 to 50% in blended pellets. The physical characteristics of pellets were determined following the standard method of the Pellet Fuel Institute (PFI) Standard Specification to verify the physical properties. In this research, physical characteristics focused on the bulk density and the durability of blended biomass pellets. It was revealed that the mixing ratios affected the physical characteristics and energy costs. The mixing ratio with increasing the bagasse content increased the bulk density and durability. It was demonstrated that the optimum mixing ratio was 50:50. In this study, the mixing ratio at 50:50 was increased to 4.48% for the bulk density and decreased total energy consumption by 6.75%. Thus, the increased bagasse content in blended biomass pellets caused decreased total energy consumption and production costs.