Effects of biomass pellet fuel on tobacco curing

ObjectiveThe experiment was conducted to study the effects of biomass pellet fuel on tobacco curing so as to provide reference for reducing tobacco curing cost and improving the quality and efficiency.MethodThe treat-ments of conventional coal curing and biomass pellet curing were set to compare the curing time,curing cost,economic characters,chemical components and smoking quality of flue-cured tobacco by using the standard airflow descending bulk curing barn.ResultThe use of biomass pellet fuel could save curing time,especially adding fuel and cleaning ash time was saved for more than 14 h compared with coal treatment.Although the fuel cost and electricity cost of biomass pellet fuel were higher than that of coal treatment,but the labor cost was saved from 177.50 to 180.00 yuan/oven,so the total cost for 1 kg dry tobacco leaves was 0.16 yuan lower than that of coal treatment. Compared with the conventional coal curing,the use of biomass pellet fuel could also increase average price,proportion of superior leaf and proportion of medium and superior leaf. The chemical component contents were proper and in harmonious proportion.Medium tobacco leaf con-tained low content of nicotine,total nitrogen and starch,and high potassium content, the sensory evaluation of cured-to-bacco was also superior.ConclusionBiomass pellet fuel can be used instead of coal in tobacco curing,which can reduces the amount of labor and output,and improves the quality of tobacco leaves.Under the support of the corresponding policy, the technology of biomass pellet fuel on tobacco curing can be further applied.