| The purpose of this study at Murray State University was to use the Bio-Burner Unit, BB-500, designed by LEI Products to compare five different agricultural biomass materials as potential fuel sources in the combustion unit. This study helped evaluate the efficiency of both the BB-500 unit and the biomass fuel sources used. These biomass fuel sources included switchgrass, energy sorghum, miscanthus, equine waste, and wood shavings. All of these products had been dried and ground in order to fit specifications given by LEI Products. These biomass fuel sources were burned in week long trials during the spring semester of 2015. Information such as weights of biomass burned, weight of ash collected, weight of propane used, outdoor and indoor temperatures, and moisture content were recorded. After an analysis of the data, good and bad qualities of each biomass fuel source were observed. Wood shavings had a very efficient burn with very little problem or labor required but burned the most amount of material. Grasses required a lot of manual labor to maintain the bio-burner unit but used less material. BTU values were found after an analysis of each fuel source. Wood shavings had the highest BTU value at 8,148 BTU per pound and equine waste had the lowest value at 6,602 BTU per pound. This study can be used as an insight to future applications of biomass energy and improve sustainable energy at Murray State University. |
