Experimental and theoretical fuel property comparison of four different waste biomass with a commercial counterpart

The study focused on determining the fuel properties of apple pulp, pomegranate seeds, pomegranate peel and orange peel wastes to convert them into pellet fuel. The organic wastes were crushed and pressed into pellets, and solid fuel characterization process was conducted to analyze moisture content, ash content, volatile matter determination, fixed carbon content, total sulfur content, hydrogen content, lower heating value and higher heating values. The experimental analysis showed that the dry pomegranate seed pellet had 4244 kcal/kg, which was lower than the commercial pellet with 4759 kcal/kg calorific value under the same conditions. The moisture content of the commercial pellet and pomegranate seed samples were also different, with the commercial pellet having a higher moisture content at 5.42% compared to pomegranate seed samples at 1.83%. With low moisture content, production costs can be reduced and processing time can be shortened, making it easier to process low moisture samples than dry ones. Using organic wastes in the combustion process is also promising from an environmental and economic perspective.