Abstract
The impact of N2 and CO2 atmospheres on the interaction between Eucalyptus pilularis biomass and a ternary molten carbonate eutectic (Li2CO3: Na2CO3: K2CO3) has been investigated at 600 °C and 900 °C. For lower temperature conversion under CO2, prevention of volatile release in the eutectic treated biomass is slightly higher than under N2 injection; however, similar bubble-shaped morphology of the remnant char is observed under both carrier gases. By increasing the temperature to 900 °C under CO2, the reverse Boudouard reaction begins to consume carbon fuel, while molten carbonate gasification also accelerates the reaction to a lower temperature set point (shifted from ~735 °C to ~640 °C). The mass loss of carbonate under CO2 and N2 at 900 °C is 0 (negligible) and 18 wt.%, respectively. In the absence of carbon particles, the decomposition of carbonate to M2O (l) and CO2 (g), as well as molten salt vaporization, are the sole potential routes of weight loss in an inert gas. Previous observations of biomass and eutectic mixture thermochemical conversion under N2 have suggested carbon/carbonate gasification is dominant at elevated temperatures, with production of CO expected. However, analysis of gas chromatography (GC) suggests that carbon/carbonate gasification is the weaker pathway by producing only 7 vol.% of CO, compared with molten carbonate decomposition with 27 vol.% CO2 emission for this system.
Highlights
IntroductionThe reaction pathway categorized is based on temperature and oxidizing agent
Thermochemical conversion is considered the most ancient procedure in biomass utilization.The reaction pathway categorized is based on temperature and oxidizing agent
Mass loss change versus time for untreated biomass (Bio) under N2 and CO2 show narrow deviation with only slight further devolatilization above 350 ◦ C under CO2 compared to N2 (Figure 1A)
Summary
The reaction pathway categorized is based on temperature and oxidizing agent. From this perspective, pyrolysis takes place in the absence of oxygen (often under N2 or Ar environments), combustion takes place in a full oxidizing environment (typically air with excess oxygen), and gasification is carried out under a partial oxidizing environment (often mixtures of air with CO2 or steam) [1]. Researchers have investigated the benefits of biomass gasification and pyrolysis in comparison with a more tradition pathway of combustion [2,3,4,5,6,7].
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