Pelletization of Sunflower Seed Husks: Evaluating and Optimizing Energy Consumption and Physical Properties by Response Surface Methodology (RSM)

Pelletization is a significant approach for the efficient utilization of biomass energy. Sunflower seed husk is a common solid waste in the process of oil production. The novelty of this study was to determine the parameters during production of a novel pellet made from sunflower seed husk. The energy consumption (W) and physical properties (bulk density (BD) and mechanical durability (DU)) of the novel pellet were evaluated and optimized at the laboratory by using a pelletizer and response surface methodology (RSM) under a controlled moisture content (4%–14%), compression pressure (100–200 MPa), and die temperature (70–170 °C). The results show that the variables of temperature, pressure, and moisture content of raw material are positively correlated with BD and DU. Increasing the temperature and moisture content of raw materials can effectively reduce W, while increasing the pressure has an adverse effect on W. The optimum conditions of temperature (150 °C), pressure (180 MPa), and moisture content (12%) led to a BD of 1117.44 kg/m3, DU of 98.8%, and W of 25.3 kJ/kg in the lab. Overall, although the nitrogen content was slightly high, the novel manufactured pellets had excellent performance based on ISO 17225 (International Organization for Standardization of 17225, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016). Thus, sunflower seed husk could be considered as a potential feedstock for biomass pelletization.