mathematical and experimental models for drying of biomass

Abstract

Drying of biomass prior to combustion process has now a day becomea key factor in improving the efficiency of combustion processes in industrialand residential sectors. Given the growing importance of thisprocess, the researchers have developed a large number of models, boththeoretical and experimental, looking to predict the drying kinetics ofdifferent types of biomass. Although there have been great advances inthe development of models, there is still no unified model to predict thetemperature and moisture profiles for different materials. These difficultiesarise because of the wide range of biomaterials and the great differencesexisting between processes.The purpose of this article is to provide an overview of the state of theart on models, both mathematical and experimental, currently used tosimulate the drying process of biomass. We also propose key elementsmust have a comprehensive unified model on this topic.