21 research outputs found
Effects of pretreatments of Napier Grass with deionized water, sulfuric acid and sodium hydroxide on pyrolysis oil characteristics
The depletion of fossil fuel reserves has led to
increasing interest in liquid bio-fuel from renewable biomass. Biomass is a complex organic material consisting of
different degrees of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin,
extractives and minerals. Some of the mineral elements
tend to retard conversions, yield and selectivity during
pyrolysis processing. This study is focused on the extraction of mineral retardants from Napier grass using deionized water, dilute sodium hydroxide and sulfuric acid and subsequent pyrolysis in a fixed bed reactor. The raw biomass was characterized before and after each pretreatment
following standard procedure. Pyrolysis study was conducted
in a fixed bed reactor at 600 o�C, 30 �C/min and 30 mL/min N2 flow. Pyrolysis oil (bio-oil) collected was analyzed using standard analytic techniques. The bio-oil yield and characteristics from each pretreated sample were compared with oil from the non-pretreated sample. Bio-oil
yield from the raw sample was 32.06 wt% compared to
38.71, 33.28 and 29.27 wt% oil yield recorded from the
sample pretreated with sulfuric acid, deionized water and
sodium hydroxide respectively. GC–MS analysis of the oil
samples revealed that the oil from all the pretreated biomass had more value added chemicals and less ketones and
aldehydes. Pretreatment with neutral solvent generated
valuable leachate, showed significant impact on the ash
extraction, pyrolysis oil yield, and its composition and
therefore can be regarded as more appropriate for thermochemical conversion of Napier grass
Evaluation of Methods for the Analysis of Untreated and Processed Lignocellulosic Biomasses
The overall efficiency of the transformation of lignocellulosic materials to usable
products as chemicals and fuels must be governed by adequate analysis of products
before and after treatments. Using some promising technologies, lignocelluloses which
are biomasses from marine plant and trees, grains, food and non-food crops, and woodbased
can give products as fuel alcohol and other chemicals. Various methods of
transformation from feedstock to valuable end products are discussed in the scientific
literature. Therefore, yields must justify methods used for biomass transformations. As
a result, adequate compositional analysis of these processing stages is needed. In this
chapter, standard common methods such as gravimetric, chromatography,
spectroscopic and their variations for analysis on both untreated and treated
lignocelluloses are highlighted. The ease of the use and challenges with
recommendations to their applicability to quantifying lignocelluloses fractionations for
reproducibility and to be representative are discussed. With biomass technology,
virtually all and even more products that can be produced from fossil energy can also
be produced from biomass energy. Adequate analysis is therefore necessary
Thermogravimetric pyrolysis for neem char using novel agricultural waste: a study of process optimization and statistical modeling
Agricultural biomasses are the underutilized sources that have extraordinary potential to synthesize green and cost-effective chemicals. This research focuses on the utilization of novel agricultural residue, i.e., waste neem cake, to produce highly efficient, cost-effective, and environment-friendly fuel, i.e., neem char (NC), through thermogravimetric pyrolysis. To study the effects of process variable on char yield and higher heating value (HHV), statistical modeling was applied by central composite design of response surface methodology. Furthermore, chemical and structural characterization of neem cake and char were carried out by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The reaction temperature was the most prominent variable found from the ANOVA (analysis of variances) to affect char yield and its HHV. The optimal result was achieved with 21.46% char yield and HHV value of 6371 kcal/kg at 600 °C, 60 min, and 3 mm. The heating value of char was highly improved indicating the potential application of char as a high-energy renewable fuel. Further, the carbon content and fixed carbon values increased, whereas hydrogen, oxygen, volatile matters, and moisture content decreased in char after the pyrolysis process