Comparison of products from the pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis of rice husks

Paul T Williams and Nittaya Nugranad

Energy, 2000, vol. 25, issue 6, 493-513

Abstract: Rice husks were pyrolysed in a fluidised bed reactor at 400, 450, 500, 550 and 600°C. The rice husks were then pyrolysed at 550°C with zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst upgrading of the pyrolysis vapours at catalyst temperatures of 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600°C. The pyrolysis oils were collected in a series of condensers and cold traps and analysed to determine their yield and composition in relation to process conditions. The gases were analysed off-line by packed column gas chromatography. The pyrolysis oils before catalysis were homogeneous, of low viscosity and highly oxygenated. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) were present in the oils at low concentration and increased in concentration with increasing temperature of pyrolysis. Oxygenated compounds in the oils consisted mainly of phenols, cresols, benzenediols and guaiacol and their alkylated derivatives. In the presence of the catalyst the yield of oil was markedly reduced, although the oxygen content of the oil was reduced with the formation of coke on the catalyst. The influence of the catalyst was to convert the oxygen in the pyrolysis oil to largely H2O at the lower catalyst temperatures and to largely CO and CO2 at the higher catalyst temperatures. The molecular weight distribution of the oils was decreased after catalysis and further decreased with increasing temperature of catalysis. The catalysed oils were markedly increased in single ring and PAH compared to uncatalysed biomass pyrolysis oils. The concentration of aromatic and polycyclic aromatic species increased with increasing catalyst temperature.

Date: 2000
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (31)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544200000098
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:25:y:2000:i:6:p:493-513

DOI: 10.1016/S0360-5442(00)00009-8

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().