Microwave-Assisted Co-Pyrolysis of Bamboo Biomass with Plastic Waste for Hydrogen-Rich Syngas Production

N Saifuddin,P Priatharsini,S.B Hakim

doi:10.3844/ajassp.2016.511.521

N Saifuddin, P Priatharsini + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3844/ajassp.2016.511.521

Copy DOI

Abstract

Concerns about diminishing fossil fuels and increasing greenhouse gas emissions are driving many countries to develop renewable energy sources. The knowledge of the dielectric property is essential to design and develop microwave technology for processing biomass materials. Bamboo biomass was subjected to microwave pyrolysis, to determine the influence of each process on the yield and composition of the derived gas, oil and char products. The influence of pyrolysis temperature and heating rate for the microwave pyrolysis was investigated. A microwave-enhanced co-pyrolysis of bamboo with plastic coupled with Ni/Al2O3 catalyst was studied to produce a high yield of hydrogen-rich syngas under mild operating conditions. Ni was applied as the catalyst loaded on Al2O3 supports. The co-pyrolysis with catalyst not only produced high hydrogen amounts but also improve the quality of the liquid bio-oil. The maximum H2 content reached 54 vol% for the bamboo using activated carbon as the microwave absorbing agent with ratio of bamboo wood: Plastic at 80:20. The Ni/Al2O3 catalyst dramatically improved the gas yield as well as the hydrogen concentration.

Highlights

The high-dependence on fossil fuel by the power generation industry and transportation sector has given rise to adverse effects on the global environment including climate change
Like other types of biomass, has low tan δ value; the microwave pyrolysis of biomass should be added with microwave absorber, such as charcoals, ionic or acid liquids, to enhance the ability of biomass in absorbing microwave energy
There has a lot of advantages for microwave pyrolysis, such as increased process yield, environmental compatibility, savings in process time and low requirements for space and capital equipment; which will improve the energy efficiency for the process

Summary

Introduction

The high-dependence on fossil fuel by the power generation industry and transportation sector has given rise to adverse effects on the global environment including climate change. The heat generated in bodies of biomass will reach most of parts of biomass, which increases the energy efficiency (Lam and Chase, 2012) It produces less polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAHs)- one of a class of organic pollutants, requires less feed pre-treatment since uniform heating happens on biomass and reduces the secondary pyrolysis reaction since the biomass surface temperature is lower than the biomass core temperature reducing the contact between hot char and volatiles (Huang et al, 2010; Kuan et al, 2013; Aziz et al, 2013; Wu et al, 2014). Microwave heating can lead to the high yield of biogas with a greater proportion of syngas (CO+H2) or high quality bio-oil compared with the conventional pyrolysis (Wu et al, 2014). The abundant availability of bamboo biomass in Malaysia with the addition of another waste material, plastic, which is abundantly present in municipal solid waste, would be a good choice for microwave co-pyrolysis

Methodology

Results and Discussion

Conclusion