Development of a gas-sweep facility for the direct capture of pyrolysis tars in a variable heating rate high-pressure wire-mesh reactor

Abstract

A variable heating rate high-pressure wire-mesh pyrolysis/hydropyrolysis reactor has been configured to permit the continuous passage of gas through the sample holder in order to remove volatiles away from the reaction zone. The introduction of the gas-sweep facility, hitherto not available at elevated pressures, was made possible by the development and installation of a flow-smoothing section beneath the sample holder. This served to reduce turbulence within the gas stream and even out heat transport from the wire-mesh to the flowing gas. Positive tar recovery was achieved at pressures between 2.5 and 150 bar, at heating rates ranging from 1 to 2500 K s −1 and temperatures up to 850 °C