Characterization of Bio-Oil Derived From Catalytic Slow Pyrolysis of Sugarcane Bagasse

Abstract

Emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and other pollutants have increased considerably over the past decades due to the continued use of energy derived from fossil fuels. This has led to problems and environmental impacts that motivate the use of clean and renewable energy sources and unconventional combustion processes. Biomass is a renewable source and has great potential for CO2 neutral energy generation. Among all the alternatives for the use of biomass, thermochemical conversion processes are the most efficient, and pyrolysis is the process capable of producing biofuels, minimizing dependence on fossil fuels. The most studied types of pyrolysis are: rapid pyrolysis and slow pyrolysis. The slow pyrolysis of biomass is mainly intended to produce biochar; however, a fraction of bio-oil is obtained, which presents a high content of oxygenated components, receiving less attention being discarded as residue. Several studies have highlighted the use of catalysts to improve biochar and bio-oil quality. However, it is noteworthy that the literature presents few studies regarding the effect of the use of catalysts in the slow pyrolysis of biomass. In Brazil, sugarcane is an important energy crop used for ethanol production, thereby, large quantities of sugarcane bagasse are generated. Nowadays there are many alternatives for use this resource, one of them is pyrolysis. In literature, several works have studied the fast pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for biofuel production, however, the possibility of obtaining bio-oil through slow pyrolysis has not yet been studied. Thus, the objective of this work is to study the catalytic slow pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for bio-oil production.