Quality of bio-oil by pyrolysis of distilled spent of Cymbopogon flexuosus

Abstract

Industrial aromatic crop such as Cymbopogon flexuosus (Lemon grass) in India generate huge biomass. In this work, residue of C. flexuosus was used as potential feed stock to produce bio-oil by fast pyrolysis technology. Experiments run in fixed bed reactor at different pyrolytic temperatures (450, 650 and 850°C). Product characterization of bio-oil samples was done using Head Space-Solid Phase Micro Extraction (HS-SPME)–GC–MS. Results showed that bio-oil produced was neutral and have good heat values increasing with rise in pyrolysis temperature (21–34.3MJ/kg). Pyrolysis temperature has major influence on the relative quantities of the individual constituents identified in bio-oil. It has negligible effect on the fragmentation pattern of cellulose and relative concentration of their constituents in bio-oil. These results showed the potential of using residue of C. flexuosus to produce bio-oil which could be a direct source of combustion fuel. However, for transportation fuels and other valuable chemicals, up-gradation is required.