Overview of Analytical Methods Used for Chemical Characterization of Pyrolysis Bio-oil

Abstract

Biomass is a renewable energy source with great potential. One of the promising ways for the conversion of biomass into more suitable forms of energy is its pyrolysis. Liquid products of the biomass pyrolysispyrolysis oils (or bio-oils) could be used in the future as biofuel or as feedstock for valuable chemicals. Detailed knowledge about their chemical composition is crucial, as it can facilitate the design of processes for the necessary upgrading of bio-oils. This paper outlines current knowledge about the composition of bio-oils and presents an overview of the commonly used analytical methods and procedures for the characterization of the liquid pyrolysis products of biomass. The capabilities and limitations of these methods are discussed as well.

A simple procedure for chromatographic analysis of bio-oils from pyrolysis

“…Gas chromatographic (GC) analyses provide reliable insight on volatile compounds with boiling points below 350 °C (according to their stability and volatility) [11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]. However simple GC analysis usually do not allow to identify and quantify more than 50% of the products present due to lack of chromatographic resolution and availability of compounds in MS libraries [19]. Analyses are improved using multidimensional GC (GC × GC methods) which increases the overall chromatographic resolution [20][21][22][23].…”

“…Analyses are improved using multidimensional GC (GC × GC methods) which increases the overall chromatographic resolution [20][21][22][23]. Nevertheless these methods required higher investment in the instrumentations than simple GC systems [19].…”

A study of the combustion chemistry of petroleum and bio-fuel oil asphaltenes

“…Vanadium is one of the most abundant metals in heavy oils and there is a roughly with the structures proposed by Xu [6] might be expected to produce small alicyclic and aromatic molecules by first bond breaking of methoxyl groups followed by abstraction reactions to yield a multiplicity of oxygen-containing low molecular weight alicyclic compounds with aldehydes, carboxylic acids, phenols and phenolic oligomers as major constituents identified in bio-oil [21]. Some aromatics are also present.…”

“…Potassium promotes the generation of phenol and phenol derivatives (2-methoxyphenol, 2,6-dimethoxyphenol) during biomass pyrolysis. Bio-oil is known to contain a range of complex oxygenated molecules [21] and the extraction process used here has separated out the bio-asphaltenes, many of which have chemical structures analogous to the biomass components [6] themselves. A detailed kinetic analysis of the decomposition was not undertaken here because of concerns about the reproducibility of the source material, the biooil.…”

“…Bio-oils consist of a range of oxygenated species together with some aromatic compounds with with some water and some water-soluble organic compounds [21]. Their burning rates are similar to those of petroleum based fuels [27,28].…”