Biomass Behavior upon Fast Pyrolysis in Inert and in CO 2 -Rich Atmospheres: Role of Lignin, Hemicellulose and Cellulose Content

Osvalda Senneca, Barbara Apicella, Carmela Russo and Francesca Cerciello
Additional contact information
Osvalda Senneca: Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologia per l’Energia e la Mobilità Sostenibili (STEMS)-CNR, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Barbara Apicella: Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologia per l’Energia e la Mobilità Sostenibili (STEMS)-CNR, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Carmela Russo: Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologia per l’Energia e la Mobilità Sostenibili (STEMS)-CNR, 80125 Napoli, Italy
Francesca Cerciello: Laboratory of Industrial Chemistry, Ruhr University Bochum, 44801 Bochum, Germany

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 15, 1-13

Abstract: The present work focuses on the quality of char and primary tar produced from fast pyrolysis in N 2 and CO 2 of lignocellulosic biomasses: walnut shells (lignin-rich), straw (hemicellulose-rich) and pinewood (cellulose-rich). Heat treatments are carried out in a heated strip reactor (HSR) at 1573 and 2073 K for 3 s, with a heating rate of 10 4 K/s. The equipment allows for quenching the volatiles as soon as they are emitted. Chars are analyzed by thermogravimetric analysis in air. Results are compared with the products obtained from raw lignin, pure cellulose and pure hemicellulose. Cellulose and hemicellulose tars are dominated by anhydrous monosaccharides, which are scarce in straw tar and abundant in walnut shells tar. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons PAHs are present in the primary products, in particular for walnut shells. The most reactive char is the one obtained from straw and the least reactive is the walnut shells char. Severe heat treatment and a CO 2 atmosphere generate additional char components with higher and lower reactivity. The more reactive char component may arise from cross-linking reactions involving the monosaccharides (for which the result decreased in tar), whereas the less reactive component arises from thermal annealing and graphitization. Thus, the pyrolytic behavior of biomasses cannot be reconstructed with a mere addition of the lignin/cellulose/hemicellulose contribution, taking into account their content in the biomass.

Keywords: pyrolysis; oxy-fuel; coal; biomass; lignin; hemicellulose and cellulose (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/15/5430/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/15/5430/ (text/html)

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:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:15:p:5430-:d:873081

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().