Fractional condensation of bio-oil vapors produced from birch bark pyrolysis

Gooty, Akhil Tumbalam; Li, Dongbing; Briens, Cédric; Berruti, Franco

doi:10.1016/j.seppur.2014.01.003

Cited by 60 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…As discussed above, a fraction rich in acetic acid can be produced using fractional condensation systems 120,[122][123][124][125]134,135,[202][203][204][205][206] . In the old wood distillation industry the acetic acid was separated by precipitation with lime 207 .…”

Section: Methods For Acetic Acid (Hac) Separationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Opportunities for Bio-oil Refining: A Review

et al. 2019

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Bio-oil derived from fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic materials is among the most complex and inexpensive raw oils that can be produced today. Although commercial or demonstration scale fast pyrolysis units can readily produce this oil, this industry has not grown to significant commercial impact due to the lack of bio-oil market pull. This paper is a review of the challenges and opportunities for bio-oil upgrading and refining. Pyrolysis oil consists of six major fractions. (water 15-30 wt.%, light oxygenates, 8-26 wt. %, mono-phenols, 2-7 wt.%, water insoluble oligomers derived from lignin 15-25wt.%, and water soluble havey molecules 10-30 wt.%). The composition of water soluble oligomers is relatively poorly studied. In the 1880s bio-oil refining (formally known as wood distillation) targeted the separation and commercialization of C1-C4 light oxygenated compounds to produce methanol, acetic acid and acetone with the commercialization of the lignin derived water insoluble fraction for preserving purification techniques. Strategies for biofuels production are discussed in section four. Bio-oil derived products are discussed in the last section. 2. Bio-oil Composition The study of bio-oil chemical composition has been the subject of active research in the last twenty years 2,24-35. Pyrolysis oil contains numerous oxygenated compounds, which include carboxylic acids, water, alcohols, esthers, anhydrosugars, furanics, phenolics, aldehydes, and ketones covering a wide range of molecular weights and functionalities 2,24,29,30,36-41. The specific composition is directly related to the feedstock and the conditions used in their production 42-44. Water is typically quantified by Karl Fischer titration 2 and is the most abundant bio-oil compound accounting between 15 and 30 wt. % 2 (See Figure 1). Water forms mostly from dehydration reactions of carbohydrate depolymerized products in the liquid intermediate 44. Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectroscopy (GC/MS) is by far the most common technique for the quantification of the pyrolysis oil organic volatile fraction 2,24,27,45. GC/MS detectable compounds typically account for between 30 and 40 wt. % 2. Table 2 shows the range of compounds quantified by GC/MS reported in the literature. Only four molecules (glycoaldehyde, acetic acid, acetol and levoglucosan) are found in quantities sufficiently high (>5 wt. %) to justify their separation and commercialization as chemicals. Methanol can also be produced in quantities justifying its commercialization but hardwood has to be used as feedstock. The remainder of the oil if refined is likely to be commercialized as fractions (mono-phenols, pyrolytic lignin, anhydrosugars, pyrolytic humins, and hybrid oligomers). Because bio-oil consists of hundreds of compounds with concentrations below 0.5 wt. % it is desirable to express their chemical composition in terms of few chemical groups or families 24. This idea was first proposed by Hallet and Clark 46. The authors 46 modeled bio-oil evaporation rates using a model based on this characte...

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Section: Methods For Acetic Acid (Hac) Separationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges and Opportunities for Bio-oil Refining: A Review

et al. 2019

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“…Wang et al [18] worked on fractional condensation to obtain different grades of bio-oil by using separate condesers for each fraction of condensate. Gooty et al [19] studied on fractionated using a series of three condensers maintained at different temperatures. Ma et al [20] worked on fixed-bed biomass pyrolysis reactor integrated with three-stage condensation columns.…”

Section: Condenser For Bio-oil Productionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design improvement and experimental study on shell and tube condenser for bio-oil recovery from fast pyrolysis of wheat straw biomass

et al. 2021

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In this study, the design improvement was done in a shell and tube condenser for improved heat transfer and condensation of bio-oil vapour. The developed condenser has split shell and segmental baffles, which divide the shell in various zones and condensate collection points. The fast pyrolysis of wheat straw was done and the bio-oil vapour condensate collected from various outlets located at bottom of condenser shell. From experimental results it was found that production of bio-oil increased from 10.2 to 20.8% with increase in cooling water flow rate from 1000 to 2500 L/h; but, further increasing it beyond 2500 L/h provide marginal effects on production of bio-oil. The production of bio-oil increased from 15.2 to 20.7% as sweep gas flow rate was increased from 20 to 40 L/min at 2500 L/h of cooling water flow rate. But, further increase in sweep gas flow rate beyond 40 L/min resulted in to decrease in production of bio-oil. The novelty of this work is development of improved condenser with segmental baffles, which help in fractional condensation of bio-oil vapour, split shell for cleaning of outer surface of the cooling water tubes and compact design of condenser for optimal condensation of bio-oil.

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“…Since the distillation of lignocellulosic pyrolysis oils might not be attractive for the above-mentioned reasons, fractional condensation of bio-oil vapors has been constantly gaining attentions as an effective downstream process to separate the bio-oil constituents [6][7][8]. Following this approach, the product stream from the fast pyrolysis reactor is passed through a series of condensers maintained at different temperatures to allow the collection of chemically different liquid fractions in each condenser based on their dew point [9]. Variations of condensers temperatures was initially implemented to control the water content of pyrolysis oil [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental study of fast pyrolysis vapors fractionation through different staged condensation configurations

et al. 2021

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The quality of biocrudes from fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass can be improved by optimizing the downstream condensation systems to separate and concentrate selected classes of compounds, thus operating different technological solutions and condensation temperatures in multiple condensation stages. Scientific literature reports that fractional condensation can be deployed as an effective and relatively affordable step in fast pyrolysis. It consists in a controlled multiple condensation approach, which aims at the separated collection of classes of compounds that can be further upgraded to bio-derived chemicals through downstream treatments. In this study, fractional condensation has been applied to a fast pyrolysis reactor of 1 kg h-1 feed, connected to two different condensation units: one composed by a series of two spray condensers and an intensive cooler; a second by an electrostatic precipitator and an intensive cooler too. Fast pyrolysis of pinewood was conducted in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor at 500 °C, while condensable vapours were collected by an interchangeable series of condensers. Using the first configuration, high boiling point compounds – such as sugars and lignin-derived oligomers – were condensed at higher temperatures in the first stage (100 – 170 °C), while water soluble lighter compounds and most of the water were condensed at lower temperatures and so largely removed from the bio-oil. In the first two condensing stages, the bio-oil water content remained below 7 wt % (resulting in 20 MJ kg-1 of energy content) maintaining about 43% of the liquid yield, compared to the 55% of the single step condensation runs. The work thus generated promising results, confirming the interest on upscaling the fractional condensation approach to full scale biorefinering.

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Fractional condensation of bio-oil vapors produced from birch bark pyrolysis

Cited by 60 publications

References 10 publications

Challenges and Opportunities for Bio-oil Refining: A Review

Challenges and Opportunities for Bio-oil Refining: A Review

Design improvement and experimental study on shell and tube condenser for bio-oil recovery from fast pyrolysis of wheat straw biomass

Experimental study of fast pyrolysis vapors fractionation through different staged condensation configurations

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