CO2 gasification reactivity of char from high-ash biomass

Biomass char produced from pyrolysis processes is of great interest to be utilized as renewable solid fuels or materials. Forest byproducts and agricultural wastes are low-cost and sustainable biomass feedstocks. These biomasses generally contain high amounts of ash-forming elements, generally leading to high char reactivity. This study elaborates in detail how chemical and physical properties affect CO2 gasification rates of high-ash biomass char, and it also targets the interactions between these properties. Char produced from pine bark, forest residue, and corncobs (particle size 4–30 mm) were included, and all contained different relative compositions of ash-forming elements. Acid leaching was applied to further investigate the influence of inorganic elements in these biomasses. The char properties relevant to the gasification rate were analyzed, that is, elemental composition, specific surface area, and carbon structure. Gasification rates were measured at an isothermal condition of 800 °C with 20% (vol.) of CO2 in N2. The results showed that the inorganic content, particularly K, had a stronger effect on gasification reactivity than specific surface area and aromatic cluster size of the char. At the gasification condition utilized in this study, K could volatilize and mobilize through the char surface, resulting in high gasification reactivity. Meanwhile, the mobilization of Ca did not occur at the low temperature applied, thus resulting in its low catalytic effect. This implies that the dispersion of these inorganic elements through char particles is an important reason behind their catalytic activity. Upon leaching by diluted acetic acid, the K content of these biomasses substantially decreased, while most of the Ca remained in the biomasses. With a low K content in leached biomass char, char reactivity was determined by the active carbon surface area.publishedVersio

Self-Heating of Biochar during Postproduction Storage by O2 Chemisorption at Low Temperatures

Biochar is attracting attention as an alternative carbon/fuel source to coal in the process industry and energy sector. However, it is prone to self-heating and often leads to spontaneous ignition and thermal runaway during storage, resulting in production loss and health risks. This study investigates biochar self-heating upon its contact with O2 at low temperatures, i.e., 50–300 °C. First, kinetic parameters of O2 adsorption and CO2 release were measured in a thermogravimetric analyzer using biochar produced from a pilot-scale pyrolysis process. Then, specific heat capacity and heat of reactions were measured in a differential scanning calorimeter. Finally, a one-dimensional transient model was developed to simulate self-heating in containers and gain insight into the influences of major parameters. The model showed a good agreement with experimental measurement in a closed metal container. It was observed that char temperature slowly increased from the initial temperature due to heat released during O2 adsorption. Thermal runaway, i.e., self-ignition, was observed in some cases even at the initial biochar temperature of ca. 200 °C. However, if O2 is not permeable through the container materials, the temperature starts decreasing after the consumption of O2 in the container. The simulation model was also applied to examine important factors related to self-heating. The results suggested that self-heating can be somewhat mitigated by decreasing the void fraction, reducing storage volume, and lowering the initial char temperature. This study demonstrated a robust way to estimate the cooling demands required in the biochar production process

Biokol for ersättning av fossil kol

This research aims to provide a full view of knowledge in charcoal production for fossil coal replacement. Charcoal from biomass is a promising material to replace fossil coal, which is using as heating source or reactant in the industrial sector. Nowadays, charcoal with quality comparable to fossil coal is produced by high-temperature pyrolysis, but efficiency of the production is relatively low due to the trade-off between charcoal property and yield by pyrolysis temperature. Increasing charcoal yield by means of secondary char formation in pyrolysis of large wood particles is the primary method considering in this work. This research has explored increasing efficiency of charcoal production by bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging. These proposed techniques significantly increase concentration and extend residence time of volatiles inside particle of woodchip resulting extra charcoal. Characterization of charcoals implies negligible effect of these methods on charcoal properties such as elemental composition, heating value, morphological structure, and chemical structure. Besides, reactivity of charcoal slightly increased when these methods were applied. A numerical model of pyrolysis in a rotary kiln reactor has been developed to study the effect of design parameters and conditions in reactor scale. The simulation results showed fair prediction of temperature profiles and products distribution along the reactor length. Nonetheless, to deliver full knowledge in charcoal production, further works are planned to be done at the end of this doctoral research

Bio-coal for the sustainable industry : A scientific approach to optimizing production, storage, and usages

Bio-coal produced from biomass is a promising material to replace fossil coal in order to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emission from the industrial sector. Bio-coal with quality comparable to that of fossil coal can be produced by high-temperature pyrolysis at ≥500 ºC, but the production efficiency is relatively low due to low bio-coal yield at high pyrolysis temperatures. This trade-off suffers the economic feasibility of bio-coal production. The overall objective of this doctoral thesis is to develop a pyrolysis process that can produce bio-coal for fossil coal replacement in the industrial sector, while maintaining a high process efficiency.   To increase bio-coal yield and process efficiency, secondary char formation during the pyrolysis of thick biomass, for example, woodchips, is the primary method considered in this work. Secondary char formation can be promoted by increasing volatile concentration during pyrolysis and/or extending residence time of volatiles inside the pore structure of wood particles. This study investigated how to increase secondary char formation using bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging. Bio-oil recycling increased bio-coal yield by not only increasing the reactants, but also through the synergetic effect between bio-oil and woodchips upon physical contact. Using CO2 as a purging gas reduced mass diffusion of volatiles inside the pore structure of woodchips, producing extra bio-coal. In addition, the effect of these techniques can be maximized by ensuring good contact between the volatiles and the solid surface using thick particles and slow heating. In parallel, a numerical model of pyrolysis in a rotary kiln reactor was developed to increase the understanding of parameter implementation in pyrolysis reactors. Two important parameters were studied: rotation speed and feeding rate. Rotation speed controlled the solid residence time, while the feeding rate influenced the heat capacity of holdup materials and product distribution.   Bio-coal is prone to self-heating and usually causes spontaneous ignition during production, storage, and transportation, which can lead to losses in the production and health of workers. In this study, self-heating at low temperatures was investigated by using numerical simulations describing the changes in local properties inside different bio-coal containers such as closed metal containers and woven plastic bags. The kinetic parameters of bio-coal were measured and implemented in the model. It was observed that the bio-coal temperature slowly increased from the initial temperature due to the heat released during O2 chemisorption. Thermal runaway occurred in some storage conditions, even at intial bio-coal temperatures of ca. 155 ºC. The simulation results suggest that self-heating can be mitigated by using small and wide particle distribution, limited storage volume, and low ambient temperature. This study also provides the criteria for estimating the cooling demands in bio-coal production processes.   Bio-coal properties are the main challenges for utilizing it as a substitute for fossil coal. Although the elemental composition and heating value of the bio-coal produced in this study are equivalent to those of fossil coal, the reactivity of bio-coal is relatively high. To replace fossil coal in existing industrial processes, bio-coal reactivity is preferred to be similar to that of fossil coal to avoid major process modifications. This thesis has concluded that pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, and biomass feedstock are the major parameters influencing the gasification rate under chemical reaction limitation. It was found that potassium in biomasses increased bio-coal reactivity even at low gasification temperatures such as 800 ºC, while calcium did not play a significant role at temperatures below 1600 ºC. Furthermore, bio-coal reactivity increased only slightly by promoting secondary char formation using the proposed methods. These findings suggest that we can achieve high bio-coal yield, both mass and energy, while maintaining similar fuel properties through pyrolysis with bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging.   In the most industrially relevant applications, the gasification rate is dominated by diffusion mass transfer. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect gasification behavior of bio-coal under these circumstances. At the particle scale, where intraparticle diffusion controls the overall reaction rate, bio-coal particle size was nearly constant until high conversion. This implies that particle size changes should be considered only at high conversion. Meanwhile, large particles exhibit low gasification rate at the particle scale following the Thiele modulus. The contrary result appears at the packed bed scale, where both intraparticle and interparticle diffusions play roles. Large particles increased the gasification rate in packed beds because of the large bed channel size, high void fraction, and low tortuosity. This observation led to an opportunity to minimize the apparent gasification rate in a packed bed by using polydisperse particles, which have a wide particle size distribution. Large particles maximize the intraparticle diffusivity of CO2, while small particles fill the gaps between large particles, thus increasing interparticle diffusivity, which reduces apparent reactivity. This outcome was confirmed experimentally.   By combining the knowledge obtained in this doctoral thesis, an efficient pyrolysis process is proposed to produce bio-coal for a sustainable industry

Biokol for ersättning av fossil kol

This research aims to provide a full view of knowledge in charcoal production for fossil coal replacement. Charcoal from biomass is a promising material to replace fossil coal, which is using as heating source or reactant in the industrial sector. Nowadays, charcoal with quality comparable to fossil coal is produced by high-temperature pyrolysis, but efficiency of the production is relatively low due to the trade-off between charcoal property and yield by pyrolysis temperature. Increasing charcoal yield by means of secondary char formation in pyrolysis of large wood particles is the primary method considering in this work. This research has explored increasing efficiency of charcoal production by bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging. These proposed techniques significantly increase concentration and extend residence time of volatiles inside particle of woodchip resulting extra charcoal. Characterization of charcoals implies negligible effect of these methods on charcoal properties such as elemental composition, heating value, morphological structure, and chemical structure. Besides, reactivity of charcoal slightly increased when these methods were applied. A numerical model of pyrolysis in a rotary kiln reactor has been developed to study the effect of design parameters and conditions in reactor scale. The simulation results showed fair prediction of temperature profiles and products distribution along the reactor length. Nonetheless, to deliver full knowledge in charcoal production, further works are planned to be done at the end of this doctoral research

Modeling of a Rotary Drum Pyrolyzer

This project focuses on the numerical modeling of a rotary kiln pyrolyzer such as found in the e.g. WoodRoll multistage gasification process. The model consists of two parts: a granular flow model, and a pyrolyzer model. In the first part, Saeman's equation was employed to develop a model which can describe the behavior of solid granular flow in a rotary kiln without reaction. Residence-time distribution (RTD) is the main aim to study in this part, which was simulated by axial dispersion model (ADM). The model requires only one fitting parameter that is dispersion coefficient (Dax), which was studied in parallel by two cases: constant value of Dax, and Dax as a function of kiln's length. The result of both models show good predictable in comparison to experimental data from literature, and represent narrow distribution of residence times that behave similar to plug flow reactor. Unfortunately, the result still cannot claim which model of Dax is the best model to describe RTD in rotary drum. The second part of the thesis purpose to design the model of rotary kiln pyrolyzer, which contains specific behavior of granular flow, heat transport in a kiln, and primary pyrolysis of wood. The model of steady-state condition with constant wall temperature was simulated to generate temperature profile and conversion along a kiln. This model included all heat transport features such as conduction, convection, and radiation. According to the result, supplied energy from outer surface of the kiln essentially transfer through the kiln via heat conduction, which occur between solid bed and rotating surface of the kiln. Temperature profile that generated by this model looks reasonable to the process of rotary kiln pyrolyzer, which affected by heating system and heat of reaction along the kiln. The result also demonstrated that conversion of wood is strongly dependent of wall temperature or heating rate of the system. Nonetheless, kinetics data for wood pyrolysis still a debatable issue in many research, and this model required validation by experiment of rotary kiln pyrolyzer.

Bio-coal for the sustainable industry : A scientific approach to optimizing production, storage, and usages

Bio-coal produced from biomass is a promising material to replace fossil coal in order to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emission from the industrial sector. Bio-coal with quality comparable to that of fossil coal can be produced by high-temperature pyrolysis at ≥500 ºC, but the production efficiency is relatively low due to low bio-coal yield at high pyrolysis temperatures. This trade-off suffers the economic feasibility of bio-coal production. The overall objective of this doctoral thesis is to develop a pyrolysis process that can produce bio-coal for fossil coal replacement in the industrial sector, while maintaining a high process efficiency.   To increase bio-coal yield and process efficiency, secondary char formation during the pyrolysis of thick biomass, for example, woodchips, is the primary method considered in this work. Secondary char formation can be promoted by increasing volatile concentration during pyrolysis and/or extending residence time of volatiles inside the pore structure of wood particles. This study investigated how to increase secondary char formation using bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging. Bio-oil recycling increased bio-coal yield by not only increasing the reactants, but also through the synergetic effect between bio-oil and woodchips upon physical contact. Using CO2 as a purging gas reduced mass diffusion of volatiles inside the pore structure of woodchips, producing extra bio-coal. In addition, the effect of these techniques can be maximized by ensuring good contact between the volatiles and the solid surface using thick particles and slow heating. In parallel, a numerical model of pyrolysis in a rotary kiln reactor was developed to increase the understanding of parameter implementation in pyrolysis reactors. Two important parameters were studied: rotation speed and feeding rate. Rotation speed controlled the solid residence time, while the feeding rate influenced the heat capacity of holdup materials and product distribution.   Bio-coal is prone to self-heating and usually causes spontaneous ignition during production, storage, and transportation, which can lead to losses in the production and health of workers. In this study, self-heating at low temperatures was investigated by using numerical simulations describing the changes in local properties inside different bio-coal containers such as closed metal containers and woven plastic bags. The kinetic parameters of bio-coal were measured and implemented in the model. It was observed that the bio-coal temperature slowly increased from the initial temperature due to the heat released during O2 chemisorption. Thermal runaway occurred in some storage conditions, even at intial bio-coal temperatures of ca. 155 ºC. The simulation results suggest that self-heating can be mitigated by using small and wide particle distribution, limited storage volume, and low ambient temperature. This study also provides the criteria for estimating the cooling demands in bio-coal production processes.   Bio-coal properties are the main challenges for utilizing it as a substitute for fossil coal. Although the elemental composition and heating value of the bio-coal produced in this study are equivalent to those of fossil coal, the reactivity of bio-coal is relatively high. To replace fossil coal in existing industrial processes, bio-coal reactivity is preferred to be similar to that of fossil coal to avoid major process modifications. This thesis has concluded that pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, and biomass feedstock are the major parameters influencing the gasification rate under chemical reaction limitation. It was found that potassium in biomasses increased bio-coal reactivity even at low gasification temperatures such as 800 ºC, while calcium did not play a significant role at temperatures below 1600 ºC. Furthermore, bio-coal reactivity increased only slightly by promoting secondary char formation using the proposed methods. These findings suggest that we can achieve high bio-coal yield, both mass and energy, while maintaining similar fuel properties through pyrolysis with bio-oil recycling and CO2 purging.   In the most industrially relevant applications, the gasification rate is dominated by diffusion mass transfer. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect gasification behavior of bio-coal under these circumstances. At the particle scale, where intraparticle diffusion controls the overall reaction rate, bio-coal particle size was nearly constant until high conversion. This implies that particle size changes should be considered only at high conversion. Meanwhile, large particles exhibit low gasification rate at the particle scale following the Thiele modulus. The contrary result appears at the packed bed scale, where both intraparticle and interparticle diffusions play roles. Large particles increased the gasification rate in packed beds because of the large bed channel size, high void fraction, and low tortuosity. This observation led to an opportunity to minimize the apparent gasification rate in a packed bed by using polydisperse particles, which have a wide particle size distribution. Large particles maximize the intraparticle diffusivity of CO2, while small particles fill the gaps between large particles, thus increasing interparticle diffusivity, which reduces apparent reactivity. This outcome was confirmed experimentally.   By combining the knowledge obtained in this doctoral thesis, an efficient pyrolysis process is proposed to produce bio-coal for a sustainable industry

Biomass pyrolysis with bio-oil recycle to increase energy recovery

This study aims at increasing char yield by recycling bio-oil without negative impact on char qualities, i.e. carbon content and heating value. Pyrolysis experiments on spruce and birch chips were carried in a macro-thermogravimetric analyzer. To examine the effect of bio-oil recycle, dried raw woodchips, pure bio-oil, and woodchips impregnated with bio-oil (10, 20 and 25% on mass basis) were compared. The experiments were carried out by introducing sample into the reaction zone with the flow of N2 and at the temperature range of 300 to 600 ˚C. Pyrolysis of the bio-oil impregnated woodchip gave higher char yield than the pyrolysis of raw woodchip. By the 20% (m/m) bio-oil impregnation, char yield increased by 18.9% (spruce) and 19.1% (birch) on average from the raw woodchip pyrolysis. In addition, the char yield from bio-oil impregnated woodchips was higher than the interpolated char yield of raw woodchips and bio-oil, indicating that synergy effect exists by bio-oil impregnation compared with mere recycling of bio-oil. However, high heating rate corresponded to high temperature pyrolysis, i.e. above 400 ˚C, created cavities and breakages on woodchips, which minimized the secondary reaction. Neither carbon content nor heating value of char was influenced by bio-oil impregnation. Energy yield also showed improvement by increasing bio-oil recycling ratio. For example, energy yield of char from woodchips at the temperature of 340 ˚C increased from 48.4% with raw woodchips to 64.5% by woodchips with 25% of bio-oil impregnation