Optimization of Charcoal Production Process from Woody Biomass Waste: Effect of Ni-Containing Catalysts on Pyrolysis Vapors

Jon Solar,Naia Gastelu,Alexander López-Urionabarrenechea,Isabel De Marco,Blanca Caballero

doi:10.3390/catal8050191

Jon Solar, Naia Gastelu + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8050191

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Abstract

Woody biomass waste (Pinus radiata) coming from forestry activities has been pyrolyzed with the aim of obtaining charcoal and, at the same time, a hydrogen-rich gas fraction. The pyrolysis has been carried out in a laboratory scale continuous screw reactor, where carbonization takes place, connected to a vapor treatment reactor, at which the carbonization vapors are thermo-catalytically treated. Different peak temperatures have been studied in the carbonization process (500–900 °C), while the presence of different Ni-containing catalysts in the vapor treatment has been analyzed. Low temperature pyrolysis produces high liquid and solid yields, however, increasing the temperature progressively up to 900 °C drastically increases gas yield. The amount of nickel affects the vapors treatment phase, enhancing even further the production of interesting products such as hydrogen and reducing the generated liquids to very low yields. The gases obtained at very high temperatures (700–900 °C) in the presence of Ni-containing catalysts are rich in H2 and CO, which makes them valuable for energy production, as hydrogen source, producer gas or reducing agent.

Highlights

The steel industry is one of the mayor contributors to CO2 emissions and, in consequence, to greenhouse gas effect
Alongside bio-oil and gases, is the product of biomass pyrolysis reaction, which consists of the thermal breakdown of organic matter under the action of heat and in the absence of an oxidizing medium
As it can be seen, the results describe different pyrolysis temperature profiles followed by a vapor treatment that can be only describeordifferent pyrolysis temperature profiles followed by as a vapor treatment that can be only thermal thermo-catalytical in the presence of the 44Ni, which, stated in Section 2.2.3, has resulted thermal or thermo-catalytical in the presence of the 44Ni, which, as stated in Section 2.2.3, has to be the best performing catalyst

Summary

Introduction

The steel industry is one of the mayor contributors to CO2 emissions and, in consequence, to greenhouse gas effect. Alongside bio-oil and gases, is the product of biomass pyrolysis reaction, which consists of the thermal breakdown of organic matter under the action of heat and in the absence of an oxidizing medium. The amount and quality of the three different fractions obtained during the pyrolysis of biomass depends on the raw materials [6,7,8] as well as the pyrolysis operating parameters, such as presence of catalyst [9,10], heating rate [11], peak temperature [12,13,14], residence time [13,15,16], pressure [17,18,19], and so forth [20,21]. The production of charcoal through pyrolysis technology is not very widespread due to economic constraints, and is only substantially utilized

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