High amounts of water present in bio-oil are one of the major drawbacks for its utilisation as a fuel. One technology that shows the potential to satisfy the demand for bio-oil with a reduced water content is the flash co-pyrolysis of biomass with polylactic acid, PLA. The influence of PLA on the pyrolysis of willow is investigated with a semi-continuous home-built pyrolysis reactor. Flash co-pyrolysis of willow/PLA blends (10:1, 3:1, 1:1 and 1:2) show synergetic interaction. A higher bio-oil yield and a lower water content as a function of the willow/PLA ratios are obtained. Among the tested blends, the 1:2 willow/PLA blend shows the most pronounced synergy: a reduction in the production of pyrolytic water of almost 28 %, accompanied by an increase of more than 37 % in the production of water-free bio-oil. Additionally, PLA shows to have a positive influence on the energetic value of the bio-oil produced and on the resulting energy recuperation.

a b s t r a c tFast pyrolysis of heavy metal contaminated willow, with high concentrations of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn, resulting from phytoremediation, is investigated. The distribution of the heavy metals depends on the plant part (leaves and branches). Nevertheless, their individual pyrolysis fractions (at an operational temperature of 623 K), i.e., bio-oil/tar and gas, are both heavy metal free. Some small differences in the kind and amounts of the organic compounds are found in the bio-oil and gaseous fraction. In view of practical considerations leaves and branches should nevertheless be pyrolysed simultaneously. The use of hyphenated thermal analytical techniques allows obtaining more detailed information on the compositional features of the pyrolysis fraction.

Bio-oil obtained via flash pyrolysis shows potential to be applied as a renewable fuel. However, bio-oil often contains high amounts of water, which is a major drawback for its application. The influence of a biopolymer -polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) on the pyrolysis of willow is investigated using a semicontinuous home-built pyrolysis reactor. The flash co-pyrolysis of willow/PHB blends (w/w ratio 7:1, 3:1, 2:1 and 1:1) clearly shows particular merits: a synergetic increase in pyrolysis yield, a synergetic reduction of the water content in bio-oil, an increase in heating value, and a production of easily separable chemicals. The occurrence of synergetic interactions is observed based on a comparison between the actual pyrolysis results of the willow/PHB blends, the theoretical pyrolysis results calculated from the reference pyrolysis experiments (pure willow and pure PHB) and their respective w/w ratio. The co-pyrolysis of 1:1 willow/PHB shows the best overall results.

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