AccScience Publishing / AJWEP / Online First / DOI: 10.36922/AJWEP025240195
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Optimization of pine sawdust densified biofuel: Effects of process parameters on fuel quality and temperature distribution

Zhuoying Chen1 ,  Zhiyuan Ma1 ,  Zhongjia Chen1 ,  Zhongsai Li1 ,  Xiangyue Yuan1*
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1 Biomass Laboratory, School of Technology, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, China
AJWEP, 025240195 https://doi.org/10.36922/AJWEP025240195
Received: 13 June 2025 | Revised: 18 July 2025 | Accepted: 21 July 2025 | Published online: 7 August 2025
© 2025 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
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Abstract

The valorization of forestry waste into densified biofuels is critical for sustainable energy development. This study investigates the optimization of the densification process for pine sawdust by examining the effects of key parameters on the final product quality, specifically focusing on the uniformity of the internal temperature field. A four-factor, mixed-level orthogonal experiment was designed, investigating forming pressure, moisture content, binder addition ratio, and heating temperature. The temperature mean square deviation (MSD) was utilized as the primary response variable to quantify thermal distribution uniformity. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to determine the statistical significance of each factor, and a multivariate regression model was established. Results from ANOVA indicated that the descending order of significance for factors impacting temperature MSD was: moisture content > forming pressure > heating temperature > binder addition ratio. A statistically significant interaction effect was identified between forming pressure and heating temperature. Response surface methodology was employed to optimize these two significant factors. The optimal conditions for minimizing temperature MSD, while maintaining constant moisture content and binder ratio, were determined to be a forming pressure of 10 MPa and a heating temperature of 190°C. By optimizing process parameters to achieve a more uniform temperature field, the quality and stability of the resulting pine sawdust densified fuel were significantly improved. This work provides a quantitative theoretical basis and key technical parameters for the scale-up and industrial application of biomass fuels in boilers and residential heating systems, thereby promoting the development of a low-carbon circular economy.

Keywords
Densified fuel quality
Binders
Fuel quality
Temperature distribution
Mechanical Properties
Forestry waste
Funding
This study was funded by the Beijing Forestry University (Award Number: 31500478, Grant Recipient: Zhongjia Chen).
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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Asian Journal of Water, Environment and Pollution, Electronic ISSN: 1875-8568 Print ISSN: 0972-9860, Published by AccScience Publishing
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