Pyrolysis of dedicated bioenergy crops grown on reclaimed mine land in West Virginia

Abstract

Dedicated bioenergy crops grown on marginal lands such as reclaimed mine lands and other non-arable lands are auspicious cellulosic sources for sustainable bioenergy production. In this study, characterization of pyrolysis products were documented for two dedicated bioenergy crops grown on reclaimed coalmine lands in West Virginia. Two clonal varieties (Private and Public varieties) of Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) and two varieties (Bomaster and Kanlow varieties) of Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L) were used in this study. The oven-dried samples were pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed batch reactor under an inert condition and at a temperature of 500 °C to produce biochar and bio-oil (vapor condensate). The pyrolysis product, energy and carbon conversion yields were calculated. Additionally, biochar and bio-oil were characterized for elemental composition, volatile, ash and calorific values. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the biochar yields (about 30.00% yield) obtained from the clonal varieties of Switchgrass and Miscanthus. The bio-oil yields were in the range of 45.00 to 51.00% with the Miscanthus (Private variety) having the highest bio-oil yield of 50.61%. The carbon content of the biomass, biochar and bio-oil were found to be 46.80-48.02%, 77.72-80.23% and 54.68-59.68%, respectively. Average calorific values were found to be 19.49 MJ/kg, 29.01 MJ/kg and 24.98 MJ/kg for the biomass, biochar and bio-oil, respectively. Results for the surface chemistry of the biochars showed carbon and oxygen to be the major chemical constituents of the surfaces of the biochars. Carbon dioxide (CO 2), nitrogen (N 2) and carbon monoxide (CO) were found to be the major components of the non-condensable gas and the CO:CO 2 ratio showed that the non-condensable gas cannot be used as a fluidizing medium.

Sustainable Carbonaceous Biofiller from Miscanthus: Size Reduction, Characterization, and Potential Bio-composites Applications

“…It became higher again after 24 h of milling. The ash content of the miscanthus biocarbon (before ball milling) obtained here was similar to the values of the miscanthus biocarbon (7.9%) and wood biocarbon (10.6%) reported in the literature (de la Rosa et al 2014;Oginni et al 2017). Moreover, the ash content of the sample before ball milling in the present work agreed well with that of the miscanthus biocarbon obtained by pyrolysis at 500 °C (8.4%), and the ash content of the sample milled for 24 h (BcBM24h) in the present work with that of the miscanthus biocarbon obtained at 900 °C (16.1%) in a previous study (Behazin et al 2017).…”

Thermal and Mechanical Properties of the Biocomposites of Miscanthus Biocarbon and Poly(3-Hydroxybutyrate-co-3-Hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV)

“…Two types of voids can be observed. Biocarbon is known to be a porous material [ 40 , 41 ]. Some macro pores are still clearly visible in the large particles on the surfaces of the PHBV/MB20 and PHBV/MB30.…”

Co-Pyrolysis of Beet Pulp and Defecation Lime in TG-MS System

“…The HHV of tar for beet pulp calculated from the energy balance was equal to 21.6 MJ/kg (Figure 6a). For comparison, during pyrolysis of energy crops [57] and wood waste [58], tar was characterized by HHV in the range from 23 to 27 MJ/kg. In our research, the addition of defecation lime has reduced the HHV of tar.…”