The 6th International Conference on Biomass Energy (ICBE2018)

533 / 2018-09-20 20:05:02

Interaction between biomass and coal during co-pyrolysis

Plenary track > B. Biomass Polygeneration

Co-pyrolysis of biomass and coal is a simple and effective way to produce high grade products. During this thermochemical process, interaction between the single fuels components leads to some synergetic effects. Investigate the interaction during the co-pyrolysis process is therefore crucial for effective utilization of those products. The co-pyrolysis of two biomass samples (rice husk and sawdust) and coal was carried out in a TGA and an auger reactor in order to study effect of the interaction on the thermal behaviour and the products respectively. In addition to the quantification of the char and oil yields, the oil was characterized with an ultraviolet (UV) fluorescence spectroscopy, a gas chromatography/mass spectrometer (GC-MS) and the char was characterized with a Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Our result indicates that the interaction in the TG reactor occurs in the main co-pyrolysis zone and is higher for the rice husk/coal process than that of the sawdust/coal process because of its higher AAEMs content. The interaction increases the oil yield because of the hydrogen donation from biomass to coal. The promotion of the formation of light components, also inhibition of the formation of aromatic compounds were found in the oil. The char yield decreases because of the synergetic effect on the additional degradation of the blends by hydrogen supply from biomass pyrolysis with the catalytic effect of inorganic species in biomass. Also, no significant interaction effect on the functional groups of char was found, except the C-O groups.