Ascertaining Optimum Pyrolysis Conditions for Biochar Production from Maple Sawdust

Sawdust is a bi-product from wood processing industries. In the recent time, pyrolysis of organic waste is an emerging technology where biochar can be produced and used for carbon sequestration. In that respect, the aim of the present work was to ascertaining optimum pyrolysis conditions in producing sawdust biochar (SBC) for the said uses. The raw material was collected from Belad furniture industry because of their specialization in furniture work and large volume availability. The proximate and ultimate analysis of 3.56% moisture, 1.49% ash content, 72.32% carbon and 0.19% surphur confirmed its good candidature for biochar production. The pyrolysis experiment was carried out by using six combination each of temperature (400, 450, 500, 550, 600 and 650°C), nitrogen flow rates (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0L/mins) and residence times (10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60mins). Analysis of resulted biochar was done according to IBI standard. Results showed that the three factors decrease the yield of biochar at their increasing values. SBC yield being optimum at temperature of 400°C, 10 min residence time and 1.0L/min nitrogen flow rate.

Pyrolysis and Kinetic Analysis of CO2 Fixation Marine (Isochrysis sp.) and Freshwater (Monoraphidium c.) Microalgae

Marine and freshwater microalgae grow in two different ecosystems, which influence their properties thus requires attention prior to determining its application. This paper has successfully disclosed the thermal, chemical, and physical properties of two types of microalgae on carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation and underwent pyrolysis process. Slow pyrolysis process for marine and freshwater microalgae (Isochrysis sp. and Monoraphidium c.) was performed in the fixed bed pyrolysis reactor and TGA (thermogravimetric analyzer) to determine the product yield and study their thermal decomposition profile. The pyrolysis was completed at various temperatures (400, 450, 500, and 550°C) at a heating rate of 15 °Cmin-1 and nitrogen flow rate of 200 ml min-1. Pyrolysis in TGA analyzer ran from 27 to 800°C at three heating rates (10, 20, and 40 °Cmin-1). For chemical composition, Fourier-transform Infrared (FTIR) analysis was performed on both microalgae samples. The highest yield (up to 33.9%) of bio-oil was obtained from Isochrysis sp. for all temperatures while the highest average yield (65.78%) of bio-char was collected from Monoraphidium c. species. From TGA pyrolysis, the major decomposition occurred between 200-400°C for Monoraphidium c. species. On the other hand, the decomposition profile of Isochrysis sp. was slightly slower, which may be due to the differences in lipid composition (FTIR peak 2929 cm-1). The activation energy of all tests is lower (33.6-40.3 kJ mol-1) compared to several other biomasses. Marine species fixed with CO2 showed promising results even without addition of catalyst and no additional cost needed.

Oily Sludge Recovery using Microwave Pyrolysis Technique

The oily sludge treatments catch widespread attention. But, management of sludge is difficult and costly undertaking. The oil recovery pyrolysis temperature, heating rate and carbon wt.% is discussed. The recovered aliphatic, aromatic, elemental components and gases were obtained with respect to the nitrogen flow rate. The present work showed that as the heating rate increases, both the %pyrolysis oil and gases increases up to 600 OC, while the %pyrolysis char decreases. Beyond 600 OC, the pyrolysis gases% increases, the pyrolysis oil% decreases while the %pyrolysis char continuous decreases. Gas chromatography, and calorific value used to examine the hydrocarbon compositions of the virgin, sludge, and pyrolysis oils.

Optimization of Slow Pyrolysis of Bamboo for Biochar Production using Taguchi’s L9 Orthogonal Array

This paper investigates the effects of three parameters (reaction temperature, feedstock particle size and nitrogen flow rate) towards the solid (char) yield from the pyrolysis of bamboo. Three-factor, three-level Taguchi’s L9 Orthogonal Array was used as the experimental design. The char yield at reaction temperatures of 300-500°C, feedstock particle size of 100-1000 μm, and nitrogen flow rate of 100-300 ml min−1 were investigated. The maximum solid yield was predicted based on signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio and was found to be at 300°C reaction temperature, 1000 μm feedstock particle size and 100 ml min−1 of nitrogen flow rate. Confirmation runs were conducted to validate the prediction at corresponding predicted conditions.

Production of bio-oil and bio-char from pyrolysis of sawdust wood waste (SWW)

This study deals with fast pyrolysis of sawdust wood waste (SWW) at the range of temperature 300–700 °C in a stainless steel tubular reactor. The aim was to experimentally investigate how the temperature, the particle size, the nitrogen flow rate (N2) and the heating rate affect bio-oil, bio-char and gaseous products. These parameters were varied in the ranges of 5–20 °C/min, below 0.1–1.5 mm and 20–200 mL min−1, respectively. It was concluded that both the temperature and heating rate have a significant effect on both yield of bio-oil and bio-char resulting from pyrolysis of SWW. The liquid products obtained at various pyrolysis temperatures were subjected into column chromatography after removal of asphaltenes (hexane insoluble). Obtained bio-oils (maltenes or hexane soluble) were classified as aliphatic, aromatic and polar sub-fractions. The maximum of bio-oil yield of 39.5 wt% was obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 °C, particle size between 0.5 and 1 mm, nitrogen flow rate (N2) of 100 mL min−1 and heating rate of 5 °C/min. Liquid product (bio-oil) obtained under the most suitable and optimal condition was characterized by elemental analysis, Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR and 13C NMR), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The analysis of liquid showed that bio-oil from SWW could be a potential source of renewable fuel production and value added chemical. The yield of char generally decreases with increasing the temperature, the char yield passes from 54.61 to 29.47 wt% at the heating rate of 5 °C/min and from 50.01 to 24.5 wt% at the heating rate of 20 °C/min at the same range of temperature (300–700 °C). Solid products (bio-char) obtained in the presence of nitrogen (N2) contain a very important percentage of carbon and high heating values (HHVs).

Pyrolytic Characteristics and Kinetic Parameters Evaluation of Cassava Stalks Using Thermogravimetric Analyzer

Pyrolytic characteristics and kinetics of cassava stalks as a renewable energy source were delved via a thermogravimetric (TG) analyzer. About 10 mg powder of the sample was heated up in the TG cavity under inert conditions with 50 ml.min-1 nitrogen flow rate and operated at 20 °C min-1 of heating program. The pyrolysis process of cassava stalks was taken place into three main stages, in which the peak reaction occurred at the second stage with 70% of the mass was degraded. The differential method of Arrhenius kinetic evaluation resulted in the values of reaction order (n) that was 0.99, activation energy that was 89.46 kJ/mol and logarithmic frequency factor (log A) was 7.7 min-1.