Preliminary results in the fast pyrolysis of biomass to lower olefins
The pyrolysis of pure cellulose and -80-mesh birch wood flour in a low-residence-time, entrained-flow tubular reactor yielded primarily gaseous products, with virtually no char formation. There were some condensible by-products which were almost entirely water soluble. The gases contained significant amounts of olefinic hydrocarbons such as ethylene. Although the yields of the olefinic hydrocarbons were not as high as previous yields from trash-derived organics, this study demonstrated that cellulose and biomass can be used to produce ethylene and other olefins in better yields than attained in conventional gasifiers. Very little of the char from birch wood pyrolysis had a charcoal appearance in scanning electron microscope photographs; instead, it had a sintered or agglomerated appearance. This implies that the char was formed by a different mechanism than charcoal and involves a liquification step. The attempts to feed lignin powder into the reactor, which resulted in the material sintering, bubbling, and charring at the reactor entrance, suggest that the agglomerated birch char particles may have been agglomerated birch lignin char particles; in fact, the heat of combustion of the char was close to that of lignin on an ash-free basis. A feed system for continuous pyrolysis research should be more reproducible and resistant to mass flow fluctuations than the China Lake pyrolysis steam as it was evolved to make pyrolysis gases for the previous gas purification system check out and demonstration. This study consisted of only a preliminary screening of the pyrolysis of pure cellulose, wood flour, and pure lignin. The pyrolysis of these materials needs to be further characterized. The ability to use relatively large feedstock particles in fast pyrolysis to produce olefins would significantly reduce the cost and process energy requirements of feedstock preparation.
- Research Organization:
- Solar Energy Research Inst., Golden, CO
- OSTI ID:
- 5036604
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-800814-P1
- Journal Information:
- Am. Chem. Soc., Div. Pet. Chem., Prepr.; (United States), Vol. 25:3; Conference: 180. American Chemical Society meeting/2. chemical congress of the North American Continent, San Francisco, CA, USA, 24 Aug 1980
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALKENES
SYNTHESIS
CELLULOSE
PYROLYSIS
ETHYLENE
FLOUR
WOOD
CHARS
CHEMICAL REACTION YIELD
CARBOHYDRATES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DECOMPOSITION
FOOD
HYDROCARBONS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
POLYSACCHARIDES
PYROLYSIS PRODUCTS
SACCHARIDES
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
YIELDS
140504* - Solar Energy Conversion- Biomass Production & Conversion- (-1989)
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