Engineering properties of sugarcane fibres

The physical properties and the mass and heat transfer coefficients for sugarcane bagasse were determined to provide information for process design and manufacturing of products. In this report, true density (ρs) and apparent density (ρ) were measured by the pycnometer method. Superficial area (as) and pore size distribution of fibres were determined by nitrogen adsorption and mercury porosimetry. equilibration cells were used in order to obtain sorption isotherms. Water content and surface temperature of the sugarcane fibres were monitored using a modified Thermal Gravimetric analyzer (TGA). The method of slope was used to calculate the effective water diffusion coefficient. The mass (hm) and heat coefficients (hh) were determined by experimental data, and then compared with one convective transfer correlation. The results show s values of 1231 kg/m³,ρ of 466 kg/m³ and as of 1300 m ²/kg. The sugarcane fibre materials are formed mainly by macropores with an average diameter of 0.0385 m. Sorption isotherms are type II sigmoid form, a form which is consistent with macroporous structures. The results showed that the parameters of the GaB equation adequately represent the experimental data. The order of magnitude of D_e of fibres was 10^-10 m²/s. The value of h_H was 40 W/(m².̊K) and h_M was 0.045 kg/(m².s). The fibre is a porous material consisting of macropores and its internal structure differs from that of the pith. The experimental values of h_H were more elevated than those calculated with correlations due to the effects of conduction and radiation. The principal mass transfer mechanism was the internal resistance, D_e increased with temperature in an arrhenius type function.