Challenges in determination the Moisturecontent of woody biomass

Company profile INADCO Moisture Measurement develops and produces measuring equipment for inline and online measuring in processes with fine and coarse bulk solids. Our specialty is the measurement of the moisture content of those bulk solids with our own unique technology, which eliminates the need the use of numerous calibration lines for each change in the product. Further we have equipment for the determination of the bulk density during the process and the weighing of product streams with a low bulk density (60 g/l – 1500 g/l) with a Beltweigher. Because we are the developer and the manufacturer of our equipment we can, if necessary, adapt the our equipment to suit your process circumstances. Our moisture meters achieve a very high reproducibility and accuracy which is better than any other system in the measurement in inhomogeneous bulk solids. The measuring range goes from 0,1 percent up to 60 percent. With years of experience from a wide variety of industries and started in the potting soil industry, INADCO is now more expanding to other industries based on their experience with many products like biomass, animal feed, sand and clay, seeds, salt, glass powder and more.

Facilities Head office Includes an office space, laboratory, development department and a production and testing area Assembly and test area Each unit undergoes an endurance test before leaving the factory Development Basically every system we create is with SIEMENS equipment and will be drawn 3D

Core business of INADCO Measuring the physical properties of Bulkmedia like woodchips, straw, miscanthus. - Bulkdensity - Mass - Volume - Moisturecontent

Measuring during process Moisture = ???? %

Most known methods of measuring moisture Capacitive Near Infra Red Microwave Drying Stove

Inline Sensors Capacitive Microwave Near Infra Red Benefits: Benefits: - Simple - Easy to handle - Low cost Benefits: - Simple - Easy to integrate - Reasonable price Benefits: - Contactless - Fast - More properties Disadvantages: Inaccurate - Not usable in product with a lot of air inclusions - Not usable in product with hard particles Disadvantages: Small surface - Not usable in product with a lot of air inclusions - Not usable in product with changing bulkdensìty Disadvantages: - Measures only surfaces - Sensitive for environments - Expensive Price range: € 500,00 - € 1.000,00 Price range: € 3.500,00 - € 6.500,00 Price range: € 12.000,00 - € 30.000,00

Quality of measurement with different technologies

Influence of Bulkdensity with High Frequency methods Higher compression = more moisture particles per volume sensor sensor

Reliability of the measurement data How accurate is this scale? * 0.23 kg ? Is this a reliable weighing scale? * NO !!! Why? * The real weight of this person is 75 kg Conclusion Two digits behind the decimal point does not always mean that the value is true Weight 50.11 kg Weight 49.88 kg The same person is measured twice

Reference measurement. With the drying stove? Result: Moisturecontent = 45% Could be! Moisturecontent ??? Drying at 103 °C for 24h (EN14774-1:2009) The wooden block was pretreated Conclusion There are more extractables in wood than just water which will vaporize at 103 °C like oils and resins. The real amount of water is thus <45%. 1 day in a drum of petrol

Reliability of the measurement STEM BRANCH

Evaporation of water and ….. 3 days drying at 60 °C Temperature at 110 °C Moisture [%] + 2.2% Temperature [°C]

Sample deviation against average from a Drying-stove

The INADCO Method The measuring electrode in the wall of the measuring cylinder measure a large thick shell of product on the inner side of the cylinder

The INADCO Method in action This video can be seen at: www.inadco.nl/taal/nederlands/video.htm

Other measuring-layouts Measuring in a funnel Measuring through a belt

Validation

Thank you for your interest and attention. For any questions or comments you can always contact us. INADCO Meerheide 18 5521 DZ Eersel The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0) 497-517291 Fax: +31 (0) 497-517469 E-mail: info@inadco.nl Web: www.inadco.nl