Gestión del almacenamiento de biomasa en plantas de generación eléctricafactores determinantes y propuesta de un modelo de almacenamiento óptimo

Resumen

Biomass is a renewable energy source that, due to its high seasonality, needs to be stored, handled and managed in suitable conditions for its optimum use. Sustainable storage is, therefore, a key process in which biomass can lose much of its qualities as fuel. This doctoral thesis presents an exhaustive bibliographic review of the factors that affect the quality of biomass during storage and the interactions that occur among them. Humidity, type of product, granulometry, size of the stockpile, airflow, temperature, and microbial action are analysed as the main factors affecting biomass during storage, and the results are compared with the tests that have been carried out on biomass from olive groves and olive oil industry, mainly. With the analysis of the results obtained in the different tests, a proposal for a storage model is made, based on the control of the most determininig factors, to optimize the use of stored biomass and recommendations are presented so that, using a correct storage method, losses, degradation and self-ignition risks are reduced and the energy quality of the fuel could be improved, taking advantage of the storage process to optimize the net energy yield.