Physical Properties for Flow Characterization of Ground Biomass from Douglas Fir Wood

The particle size distribution and packing (loose bulk and tapped density) of a mixture of ground biomass from Douglas fir wood particles was characterized by different practical methods: sieving, digital imaging and scanning electron microscopy. The ground mixture was analyzed using a set of 14 wire mesh sieves. The calculated mean diameter of mixture was 251 µm. The mixture was divided into four size fractions of mean size ranging from 74 to 781 µm. Particle length measured by imaging technique were 3–4 times larger than the mean diameter determined by sieve analysis. Similarly, particle width was 1.0–2.5 times larger than mean particle diameter. The sphericity of particles in each of the four fractions increased with decreasing size of the sieve indicating that smaller particles also have a smaller aspect ratio. Empirical power law equations were developed to correlate the packing and flow ability of ground particles (HR) to the mean diameter, with R2 values of 0.88 and 0.91, respectively. The HR values indicated good flow ability for the large particles and poor flow ability for the smallest particles and the entire mixture. HR and porosity ratio reached an asymptote for particles larger than 400 µm.