Exploring the Prospective of Weed Amaranthus retroflexus for Biofuel Production through Pyrolysis

Julia Karaeva (), Svetlana Timofeeva, Marat Gilfanov, Marina Slobozhaninova, Olga Sidorkina, Ekaterina Luchkina, Vladimir Panchenko and Vadim Bolshev ()
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Julia Karaeva: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Svetlana Timofeeva: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Marat Gilfanov: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Marina Slobozhaninova: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Olga Sidorkina: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Ekaterina Luchkina: Institute of Power Engineering and Advanced Technologies, FRC Kazan Scientific Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, 420111 Kazan, Russia
Vladimir Panchenko: Department of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Russian University of Transport, 127994 Moscow, Russia
Vadim Bolshev: Laboratory of Power Supply and Heat Supply, Federal Scientific Agroengineering Center VIM, 109428 Moscow, Russia

Agriculture, 2023, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-19

Abstract: Amaranthus retroflexus or redroot pigweed is a second generation lignocellulosic fuel. Each biomass sample (leaves, inflorescences and stems) was pyrolyzed in a lab-scale furnace, in a nitrogen atmosphere under non-isothermal conditions at heating rates of 10 °C/min until the furnace temperature reached 550 °C. The pyrolysis characteristics of the three major components were also studied through thermogravimetric analysis. The thermal decomposition of the biomass samples is similar to the process of pyrolysis of lignocellulosic materials and proceeds in three main stages: dehydration, devolatilization, and carbonation. The highest bio-oil yield was obtained for inflorescences (55%) and leaves (45%). Gas chromatography—mass spectrometry analysis was carried out for oil fractions of the pyrolysis liquid from Amaranthus retroflexus . The composition of the pyrolysis oil fraction from the leaves had an overbearing aliphatic hydrocarbon nature whereas the oil fraction from inflorescences and stems was composed mainly of oxygen-containing components. The use of Amaranthus retroflexus biochars can lead to slag formation in power equipment, so it is advisable to use them to produce composite fuel, for example, mixed with coal. The results would help to better understand the thermal behavior of Amaranthus retroflexus biomass and its utilization for fuels or chemicals.

Keywords: biomass; Amaranthus retroflexus; pyrolysis; thermogravimetric analysis; bio-oil; biochar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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