An In Silico Temperature Sensitivity Study of the Pyrolysis of Beech, Ailanthus and Spruce

Abstract

In the current investigation, a temperature sensitivity analysis of hard and softwood pyrolysis was conducted on an in silico platform. The selected samples were beech (hardwood), ailanthus (soft hardwood) and spruce (softwood). Upon the successful development of the model on ASPEN Plus v8.8, the results of the model prediction showed that the yield of bio-oil reduced with a rise in process temperature. Beech had the highest bio-oil yield of the feedstock investigated. At 350 o C, oil yield was 36.72%, 35.13% and 32.89% for beech, ailanthus and spruce respectively. The syn-gas yield was 39.99%, 38.25% and 35.82% and bio-char yield was 45.44%, 47.58% and 50.77% for beech, ailanthus and spruce respectively (at 650 o C). For the entirety of the temperature range studied, a gentle fall in char yield was observed for all feedstock type (though more significant at temperatures above 500 o C). The model also predicted the yield of volatiles (bio-oil and syn-gas) to be higher for the hard and soft hardwood than for the softwood and this was vice versa for the char yield.