Reactive Liftoff of Crystalline Cellulose Particles
Date
2015-06-09
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Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Abstract
The condition of heat transfer to lignocellulosic biomass particles during thermal processing at high
temperature (>400 °C) dramatically alters the yield and quality of renewable energy and fuels. In
this work, crystalline cellulose particles were discovered to lift off heated surfaces by high speed
photography similar to the Leidenfrost effect in hot, volatile liquids. Order of magnitude variation
in heat transfer rates and cellulose particle lifetimes was observed as intermediate liquid cellulose
droplets transitioned from low temperature wetting (500–600 °C) to fully de-wetted, skittering
droplets on polished surfaces (>700 °C). Introduction of macroporosity to the heated surface was
shown to completely inhibit the cellulose Leidenfrost effect, providing a tunable design parameter to
control particle heat transfer rates in industrial biomass reactors.
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Citation
Teixeira, A. R. et al. Reactive Liftoff of Crystalline Cellulose Particles. Sci. Rep. 5, 11238; doi: 10.1038/srep11238 (2015).