View Full Version : What is the BTU of a Banana Pseudostem?
Ohio'sBest
07-29-2009, 01:55 PM
I was wondering what the heat content of banana leaves and pseudostem are?
lorax
07-29-2009, 01:58 PM
About the same as a hardwood of similar density, bearing in mind that banana material is very moist and will therefore smoulder rather than burning unless it is sufficiently dry.
A good baseline is about 23 million BTU per cord.
Bananaman88
07-29-2009, 01:59 PM
Did the info I sent you not help?
Ohio'sBest
07-29-2009, 03:08 PM
I searched some of the University research and found little to no data on it. I just need a more clearer number so that the cogenerator can be suited for it and what amount it would take for heating. I am working with Mr. Moss on it from Birmingham.
Richard
07-29-2009, 04:23 PM
Dried or freshly harvested?
Ohio'sBest
07-29-2009, 06:58 PM
Dried or freshly harvested?
Dried
Simply Bananas
07-29-2009, 07:08 PM
Ha, thats funny.
I thought of figuring out the r value. The closet that I got was something near corrugated cardboard. http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y274/porkpi/r-valuesaba.jpg
. I was thinking that thick p stems insulated the inner core. But perhaps its the silica, as I seem to have read earlier, that add to plant toughness(hardiness).
Bananaman88
07-30-2009, 06:20 AM
It could be that once it is dried that it is so light and burns up so fast that it isn't worth the effort.
Ohio'sBest
07-30-2009, 08:07 AM
A cord of wood is dry when you burn it. Pretty hard to fire a green log. Are you saying to keep the pseudostem green, then burn it?
He did say something about using a gasifier with the boiler system.................so I guess it could be green matter as well.
Bananaman88
07-30-2009, 12:19 PM
No, I meant that due to the difference in density of wood vs. banana fiber, that the banana fiber might be too light to bother worrying with. I don't see for sure how one could compare wood to banana pseudostems since the density is so different-at least I think it would be.
browndrake
07-30-2009, 01:42 PM
Here is a way that the pstem and leaves could be used... in construction. The same method, or similar, would also make them much better for burning.
Straw Jet Inc (http://www.strawjet.com/)
aaron
Ohio'sBest
07-30-2009, 09:51 PM
No, I meant that due to the difference in density of wood vs. banana fiber, that the banana fiber might be too light to bother worrying with. I don't see for sure how one could compare wood to banana pseudostems since the density is so different-at least I think it would be.
As I understand it Brent, it is the cellulose and starch(sugar means energy) content of the pseudostem that is used in the gasifier. I'm still learning.
Richard
07-30-2009, 11:56 PM
O.K., now I'm really curious! The AEC (prior to being reorganized into the DOE) several decades ago ran a test facility that fired municipal waste in gasifiers and fusers (combusted light metal) to produce heat, steam, mineral ash, heavy metal solids, and distilled vapors. The location was possibly Georgia but might have been one of the Carolinas.
If you wish to know the combustion BTU of just about anything, it can be determined fairly easily with equipment at most 4-year college/university physics departments or for a small fee by one of many test facilities in the U.S. Your county department of Agriculture already knows the names of labs which do soil tests and some of these do all manner of other tests as well.
But can you tell us why this information is important to the process?
Bananaman88
07-31-2009, 06:13 AM
As I understand it Brent, it is the cellulose and starch(sugar means energy) content of the pseudostem that is used in the gasifier. I'm still learning.
Me too! :)
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