Experimental investigation of pyrolysis process of woody biomass mixture

Abstract

This paper describes an experimental investigation of pyrolysis of woody biomass mixture. The mixture consists of oak, beech, fir, cherry, walnut and linden wood chips with equal mass fractions. During the experiment, the sample mass inside the reactor was 10 g with a particle diameter of 5-10 mm. The sample in the reactor was heated in the temperature range of 24-650°C. Average sample heating rates in the reactor were 21, 30 and 54 °C/min. The sample mass before, during and after pyrolysis was determined using a digital scale. Experimental results of the sample mass change indicate that the highest yield of pyrolytic gas was achieved at the temperature slightly above 650°C and ranged from 77 to 85%, while char yield ranged from 15 to 23%. Heating rate has significant influence on the pyrolytic gas and char yields. It was determined that higher pyrolysis temperatures and heating rates induce higher yields of pyrolytic gas, while the char mass reduces. Condensation of pyrolytic gas at the end of the pyrolysis process at 650°C produced 2.4-2.72 g of liquid phase. The results obtained represent a starting basis for determining material and heat balance of pyrolysis process as well as woody biomass pyrolysis equipment. © 2014 Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.