Exploring the Products from Pinewood Pyrolysis in Three Different Reactor Systems

Abstract

The product yields and selectivity from fast pyrolysis of biomass are highly dependent on the physicochemical properties of the biomass feedstock and the process conditions. The objective of this study was to compare the product yields and selectivity from fast pyrolysis of pinewood using three different reactors systems typically used in research laboratory settings for studying biomass pyrolysis: a micropyrolyzer coupled to a GC/MS system, a batch tubular reactor, and a fluidized-bed (FB) continuous reactor. The pyrolysis of pinewood using the three reactors gave different bio oil yields, altered the amounts and compositions of the non-condensable gases, and gave rise to variations in the amount and types of chemicals in bio-oil produced. The variability in residence times of the three reactors and mechanical factors within the FB altered the degree of secondary reactions of the primary pyrolysis vapor leading to the observed changes in composition. Lower yields of carbohydrates were also found to be a consequence of these same intrinsic reactor design constraints. These findings shed significant light on how residence time and the mechanical properties of a reactor configuration affect the products of pyrolysis through the alteration of secondary pyrolytic reactions.

Pyrolysis of the Cellulose Fraction of Biomass in the Presence of Solid Acid Catalysts: An Operando Spectroscopy and Theoretical Investigation

“…Levoglucosany ield can be altereda nd secondary reactions suppressed significantly by optimizing the following experimental variables:s ample size, carrier/sweep gas rate, heating rate, and biomass moisture content. [16,17,[60][61][62][63][64][65] It was demonstrated that H-ZSM-5, with aS i/Al ratio of roughly3 0, gives the best selectivity to aromaticsc omparedt oa morphous silica-aluminas, other zeolites,a nd other supported metal or metal oxide catalysts. Thus, slow heating rates maximize the amount of useable levoglucosan.…”

“…Selectivity to aromatic products or value-added chemicals was determined to be af unction of catalyst/biomass weightr atio, heating rate, pore size, reactorc onfiguration, and reactiontemperature. [16,17,[60][61][62][63][64][65] It was demonstrated that H-ZSM-5, with aS i/Al ratio of roughly3 0, gives the best selectivity to aromaticsc omparedt oa morphous silica-aluminas, other zeolites,a nd other supported metal or metal oxide catalysts. [60,63,[66][67][68][69][70][71] However, physical mixtures of Siral 5, an amorphous silica-alumina, and H-ZSM-5 was shown to have as ynergistic effect on the yield of aromaticsr elative to either catalystalone.…”

Pyrolysis-GC/MS Analysis of Fast Growing Wood Macaranga Species

“…It has been found that the overall yield and product distribution among broad chemical classes were similar for Pinus radiata and grape marc pyrolysed in a Py-GC/MS system (Subagyono et al, 2016b) and in a short residence time flow reactor (Subagyono et al, 2015a). Likewise, product distribution for pinewood pyrolysis in a Py-GC/MS system was generally similar to that for the same wood pyrolysed in a short residence time fluidized bed reactor (Zmiewski et al, 2015). Finally, the conversions in several different classes of fast pyrolysis reactors have been found to be similar (Bridgwater, 2012).…”

Effect of temperature on oil quality obtained through pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse

“…In addition to the feedstock properties there are various factors in how the pyrolysis process is conducted and this includes, type and material of the reactor [92] as well as the use of catalysts [93]. The use of potential catalysts will be discussed later in chapter 4.2.2, but due to saving costs and fulfil the aims of the research mentioned earlier in chapter 1.1, the actual use of catalysts for this project is not investigated.…”

“…The specific factors effecting oil output will be discussed in the next paragraph. Furthermore, the operation itself such as the maximum temperature and heating ramp [92], are one of the obvious factors which can be controlled in order to influence the quality of the output.…”