[Stoves] Controlling wood moisture content for stove testing in a lab

[Richard Stanley]

Frank, 
Interesting idea.

We work it from the other end --from the stage where all free water is expelled /ie., its not emitting any solid water --out of the press,  drying back to ambient moisture then beyond alongside the stove to bone dry hot to the touch condition, where removing it to stand well away from the stove, sees it re-gaining weight / moisture presumably back to ambient.
They typical ...10cm dia x 7.5cm height with  3cm" dia. hole get you a volume of biomass at 555 odd cc. The briquette out of the mold weighs between 500 and 600 gms and dries out to bone dry at 125 to 175 gm...depending upon mix..  Adding more charcoal crumbs dust will more than double the denisty but for pure biomass agro residues biomass, thats prettymuch the average..
If that helps for any reference or cross calcuation thru variances.

Richard Stanley

On Jan 13, 2011, at 12:03 PM, Frank Shields wrote:

> Dear James and stovers,
> 
> I have placed biomass samples in a plastic bag with varying amounts of water and incubated at 25 deg. for a week plus. Then determined the moisture content by calculating. Not sure if an exact moisture content can be made to happen with this method. I just plot results vs percent moisture and calculate what it would be at the percent moisture I want. I would make the bags of biomass of the same size sample I want to use because I'm not convinced the moisture gets evenly distributed in the sample. So separately I determine a moisture of the lot. Then take a known weigh of as-received sample and add the water. Then after a time remove the biomass and weigh and calculate the moisture in the biomass. Some water stays in the bag.  And use the entire sample for the test.
> 
> Regards
> Frank
> 
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> James Robinson wrote:
> 
>> Dear all,
>> 
>> Is anyone using a system to control the moisture content of wood (or other fuels) for stove testing in a laboratory?
>> 
>> I was thinking along the lines of a humidity/temperature controlled cabinet with multiple sections to allow for the grading of MC in a variety of samples.
>> 
>> A quick web search turned up a number of systems but none that obviously fit the requirement. A home made system is also a possibility.
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> James Robinson
>> 
>> SeTAR Centre
>> University of Johannesburg
>> 
>> 
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