Abstract
Prior information on the pyrolysis product behaviour of biomass components-cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin is critical in the selection of feedstock as components have a significant influence on the pyrolysis products yield. In this study, the effect of biomass components on the yield of slow pyrolysis products (char, bio-oil and syngas) is investigated using a validated ASPEN Plus® model. The model is simulated at a temperature of 450 °C, a heating rate of 10 °C/min and a solid residence time of 30 min. The results indicated that at the given conditions, lignin contributed 2.4 and 2.5 times more char yield than cellulose and hemicellulose. The hemicellulose contributed 1.33 times more syngas yield than lignin while the cellulose and hemicellulose contributed 8.67 times more bio-oil yield than lignin. Moreover, the cost involved in the production of char using lignin (110 $/ton) is significantly economical than using cellulose (285 $/ton) and hemicellulose (296 $/ton). The net CO2 emission of lignin pyrolysis is 4.14 times lower than cellulose pyrolysis and 3.94 times lower than hemicellulose pyrolysis. It can be concluded that lignin pyrolysis is more advantageous than cellulose and hemicellulose pyrolysis. In the selection of feedstock for the slow pyrolysis, the feedstock with more lignin content is preferred.Graphical abstract
Highlights
Modern society is primarily driven by fossil fuels which contribute towards resource depletion and pollution [1]
Aspen Plus® V9 was selected for the development of a process because the aims of this study are to use advanced simulation techniques to investigate the effect of pseudo-biomass components on the yield of the slow
The pyrolysis of biomass involves the thermal conversion of the three pseudo-biomass components: lignin, cellulose and hemicellulose into different products that include char, bio-oil and syngas
Summary
Modern society is primarily driven by fossil fuels which contribute towards resource depletion and pollution [1]. The changes in climate, limited and unequal distribution of fossil fuel sources and imbalanced energy trade have increased the importance of alternative sources of energy such as biomass [2, 3]. There is a global impetus to identify low carbon and sustainable sources of energy as agreed by most signatories to the Paris Climate agreement in 2015, for which. Biomass can be converted into fuels/chemicals by biological and thermochemical conversion processes and it is the only source that can produce solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Amongst the thermochemical conversion processes, pyrolysis is primarily employed for the generation of liquid (bio-oil), gas (syngas) and solid (char) fuels [11, 12]. Pyrolysis is the process of thermal decomposition of organic materials to obtain a set of solid, liquid and gaseous products in the absence of oxygen [13, 14]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
