Biofuel production using fast pyrolysis of various plant waste biomasses in fixed bed and twin-screw reactors

Abstract

Fast pyrolysis of six biomasses mustard, camellia, pinewood, sawdust, bamboo, and bagasse was completed at a temperature of 500°C in a fixed bed reactor and a twin-screw reactor. It was found that the yield of bio-oil varied from 48 to 30 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 52 to 39 wt% in a twin-screw reactor, whereas pyrolysis gases yield ranged from 34 to 20 wt% in a fixed bed reactor and 32 to 16 wt% in twin-screw reactor and biochar yield ranged from 36 to 24 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 32 to 16 wt% in a twin-screw reactor. High heating value (HHV) of bio-oil was found to be maximum for bamboo (24.45 MJ/kg) biomass, whereas in the case of biochar, the maximum HHV was obtained for pinewood (27 MJ/kg) and sawdust (28 MJ/kg) biomass. On the characterization of the pyrolysis products, it is found that char obtained comprises mainly carbon while the liquid product, that is, bio-oil, is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The pyrolysis gases consist of a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen. Novelty Statement: Biofuel production uses various biomasses via two different reactors that is, a fixed bed reactor and a twin-screw reactor. The yield of oil in the range from 48 to 30 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 52 to 39 wt% in a twin-screw reactor and biochar yield ranged from 36 to 24 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 32 to 16 wt% in a twin-screw reactor. The high heating value (HHV) was optimum for bio-oil produced via bamboo biomass (24.45 MJ/kg) whereas HHV for biochar produced via pyrolysis was found to be optimum for pinewood and sawdust biomass (27 MJ/kg and 28 MJ/kg).