Integrated thermo-catalytic reforming of residual sugarcane bagasse in a laboratory scale reactor

Abstract

The objective of present study was to demonstrate efficient conversion of residual sugarcane bagasse by thermo-catalytic reforming (TCR®) into fuels and high-value products in a laboratory scale 2kg/h unit. None of the toxic or non-toxic chemicals and solvents was employed during the process, thus minimizing negative environmental effects. In addition, a detailed study on the composition of bio-oil using GC–MS, FT-IR and on the properties of biochar using Raman spectroscopy, SEM, SEM-EDS, TEM, TEM-EDX and BET surface analyzer have been reported for the first time for TCR® process. At optimum operating parameters, ~57.0wt% gaseous products, 23.5wt% biochar, 15.5wt% aqueous phase and ~4wt% bio-oil were obtained. The hydrogen content and higher heating value (HHV) of the gaseous product were measured up to 37vol% and 16.40MJ/kg, respectively. The bio-oil was naturally separable from liquid phase due to gravity without application of an extracting solvent. Moreover, the bio-oil had very low water (2.6wt%) and oxygen (10.2wt%) content as well as HHV of 32.11MJ/kg. Furthermore, biochar produced from TCR® possessed excellent structural and morphological properties, thereby showing potential for several applications in catalysis, soil improvement and for various other purposes. The BET surface area and micropore surface area of biochar were measured 93.144m2/g and 90.654m2/g, respectively whereas, the t-plot micropore volume was measured 0.0487cm3/g.