Thermo chemical conversion of cedar wood by pyrolysis technology for bio-oil

Abstract

The conversion of cedar wood which is abundantly found in the forests of Japan, into biofuels and chemicals by externally heated fixed-bed pyrolysis reactor has been taken into consideration in this study. The selected solid biomass in particle form were fed into the reactor by gravity feed type reactor feeder. The output products were liquid (oil), solid char, and gas. The liquid and char products were collected separately while the gas was flared into the atmosphere. The process conditions were found to influence the product yields significantly. The maximum liquid yields were 48 wt% of solid particles at reactor temperature 450 °C for N2 gas flow rate 6 L/min, feed particle size 1180–1700 µm, and running time 30 min. The liquid product obtained at this optimum condition was characterized by physical properties, chemical analysis, and gas chromatograph mass spectrometry techniques. The results show that it is possible to obtain liquid product from cedar wood that are comparable to petroleum fuels and other valuable chemicals.