Thermochemical conversion of neem seed biomass to sustainable hydrogen and biofuels: Experimental and theoretical evaluation

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the potential of neem seeds as a renewable energy source for producing bio-oil and syngas through both experimental and theoretical approaches. Neem seeds underwent thermal pyrolysis in a semi-batch reactor after undergoing acid wash pre-treatment. The effects of pyrolysis temperatures (350–550 °C) and heating rates (10–40 °C/min) on product yields were analyzed, and the highest achieved bio-oil yield was 60.2 % at 450 °C and a heating rate of 40 °C/min. In the theoretical section, the Aspen Plus software was employed to simulate the process of steam gasification of neem seeds to identify optimal operating conditions for maximizing hydrogen production and cold gas efficiency (CGE) while maintaining an ideal H2/CO ratio. By analyzing the impact of operating parameters such as steam-to-biomass (S/B) ratio and temperature on the composition of the syngas stream, H2/CO ratio, and CGE, the study determined that the optimal operating conditions are an S/B ratio of 0.9 and temperatures ranging from 650 to 750 °C. The findings of this study can shed light on the potential of neem seed as a non-edible biomass source for renewable energy production, which can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate the negative impacts of traditional energy sources on the environment.