Combination of woody and grass type biomass: waste management, influence of process parameters, yield of bio-oil by pyrolysis and its chromatographic characterization

Abstract

Extensive concentration has been given to the conservation of environment in order to minimize the emission. Global warming is a long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system due to the emission by burning fossil fuels. Biomass materials are used since millennia for meeting myriad human needs including energy and chemicals. In this study co-pyrolysis of woody and grass type agricultural wastes, namely Borassus flabellifer and Cymbopogon flexuosus have been conducted in a fixed-bed reactor. The yield and chemical characterization of bio-oil and char products obtained from the pyrolysis of the mixture of Borassus flabellifer and Cymbopogon flexuosus under an inert atmosphere have been studied. The effects of operating parameters such as temperature, particle size and heating rate were investigated. In this co-pyrolysis process, the maximum yield of pyrolysis bio-oil of 47.10 wt% have been obtained under the pyrolysis temperature of 500 ºC, 1.0 mm particle size and at the heating rate of 30 ºC/min. The bio-oil product was analyzed for physical, elemental and chemical composition using Fourier transform infra-red (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography (GC).