Experimental Investigation of Pyrolysis Process of Agricultural Biomass Mixture

This paper describes an experimental investigation of pyrolysis process of agricultural biomass mixture, without the addition of inert gas. The mixture consists of corn stalk, wheat straw, soy straw and oat straw with equal mass fractions. During the experiment, the mass of biomass sample 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 24-650ºC at average heating rates of 21, 30 and 54ºC/min. The sample mass before, during and after pyrolysis was determined using a METTLER P1000 digital scale. Experimental results of the sample mass change indicate that the highest yield of pyrolytic gas, achieved at 650ºC, was in the range from 74 to 81%, while char yield ranged from 19 to 26%. Heating rate of biomass mixture sample has significant influence on the pyrolytic gas and char yields. It was determined that higher heating rates in the reactor induce higher yields of pyrolytic gas, while the char mass reduces. Condensation of pyrolytic gas at the end of the pyrolysis process at 650ºC produced 1.3-1.8 g of liquid phase. The results obtained represent a starting basis for determining material and heat balance of pyrolysis process as well as agricultural biomass pyrolysis equipment

PARMENIDES' POEM AND THE DIFFICULTIES OF CAUSAL SCHEMATISM

In this paper the author analyzes challenges for the Aristotles’ doctrine of the causes that were triggered by the attempts to fit Eleatic philosophers into his framework. Negation of movement and change, apsolutization of the one without allowing the plurality, should have prevented any mentioning of the causes in the doctrines of Xenophanes, Parmenides, Zeno and Melissus. Nevertheless, there were some attempts in that direction as early as in interpreting of Xenophanes’ opinions, only to gain in intensity with the Parmenides’ poem On Nature. The comentators clearly saw in Aristotles’ views of Parmenides’ one traces of the formal cause, in contrast to the Melissus’ one which would correspond to the material cause. However, according to the author, this insight is less important than the Stagirites’ assumption of the authenticity of the second part of Parmenides’ poem. Not only that the "Way of Seeming" may be understood as the "best explanation" of phenomena, but only when some kind of "organization of the world" is mentioned, we can look for the causes. By recognizing in the "Way of Seeming" implications of his material and efficient causes, Aristotle made the methapysical chain linking Presocratics unbroken, i.e. made his causal schematism through cosmology of the most popular Eleatics link as "naturally" as possible the systems of Pre-Parmenides thinkers with the systems of Post-Parmenides philosophers.</p