Characterizing Sawdust Fractional Composition from Oak Parquet Woodworking for Briquette and Pellet Production

The particle size distribution of woodworking residues influences the quality of the biofuels made of these materials. Hence, it is essential to investigate the fractional composition of raw materials for pellet production. Tested materials originated from ten parquet manufacturing facilities located in western Poland. The research material consisted of uncontaminated oak (Quercus spp.) wood particles. The tested material had a moisture content ranging from 8.8% to 11.4% and a density of 210.7 ± 1.79 kg/m3. A sieve analysis method segregated the tested material into four distinct size fractions (<1.0 mm, 1.0-2.5 mm, 2.5-5.0 mm, and >5 mm). The average mass shares in these fractions were 53.72 ±0.51%, 35.14 ±0.27%, 9.59 ±0.36%, and 1.55% ±0.11%, respectively. The particle size distributions of wood particles generated in all the facilities demonstrate remarkable similarity. No substantial differences were observed in terms of tilt angle and calorific value. Factors such as variations in raw material species, geographical origins, density, humidity, and technological processes appear to have minimal influence on the sieve-size distributions of the generated sawdust. All these solid wood processing residues can undergo processing into high-quality solid biofuel production.