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Journal ArticleDOI

Pyrolysis of Wood/Biomass for Bio-oil: A Critical Review

10 Mar 2006-Energy & Fuels (American Chemical Society)-Vol. 20, Iss: 3, pp 848-889
TL;DR: A review of the recent developments in the wood pyrolysis and reports the characteristics of the resulting bio-oils, which are the main products of fast wood pyrotechnics, can be found in this paper.
Abstract: Fast pyrolysis utilizes biomass to produce a product that is used both as an energy source and a feedstock for chemical production. Considerable efforts have been made to convert wood biomass to liquid fuels and chemicals since the oil crisis in mid-1970s. This review focuses on the recent developments in the wood pyrolysis and reports the characteristics of the resulting bio-oils, which are the main products of fast wood pyrolysis. Virtually any form of biomass can be considered for fast pyrolysis. Most work has been performed on wood, because of its consistency and comparability between tests. However, nearly 100 types of biomass have been tested, ranging from agricultural wastes such as straw, olive pits, and nut shells to energy crops such as miscanthus and sorghum. Forestry wastes such as bark and thinnings and other solid wastes, including sewage sludge and leather wastes, have also been studied. In this review, the main (although not exclusive) emphasis has been given to wood. The literature on woo...
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Hydrogen Production by Water−Gas Shift Reaction 4056 4.1.
Abstract: 1.0. Introduction 4044 2.0. Biomass Chemistry and Growth Rates 4047 2.1. Lignocellulose and Starch-Based Plants 4047 2.2. Triglyceride-Producing Plants 4049 2.3. Algae 4050 2.4. Terpenes and Rubber-Producing Plants 4052 3.0. Biomass Gasification 4052 3.1. Gasification Chemistry 4052 3.2. Gasification Reactors 4054 3.3. Supercritical Gasification 4054 3.4. Solar Gasification 4055 3.5. Gas Conditioning 4055 4.0. Syn-Gas Utilization 4056 4.1. Hydrogen Production by Water−Gas Shift Reaction 4056

7,067 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an updated review on fast pyrolysis of biomass for production of a liquid usually referred to as bio-oil is provided, including the major reaction systems.
Abstract: This paper provides an updated review on fast pyrolysis of biomass for production of a liquid usually referred to as bio-oil. The technology of fast pyrolysis is described including the major reaction systems. The primary liquid product is characterised by reference to the many properties that impact on its use. These properties have caused increasingly extensive research to be undertaken to address properties that need modification and this area is reviewed in terms of physical, catalytic and chemical upgrading. Of particular note is the increasing diversity of methods and catalysts and particularly the complexity and sophistication of multi-functional catalyst systems. It is also important to see more companies involved in this technology area and increased take-up of evolving upgrading processes. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

3,727 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Biomass is an important feedstock for the renewable production of fuels, chemicals, and energy, and it recently surpassed hydroelectric energy as the largest domestic source of renewable energy.
Abstract: Biomass is an important feedstock for the renewable production of fuels, chemicals, and energy. As of 2005, over 3% of the total energy consumption in the United States was supplied by biomass, and it recently surpassed hydroelectric energy as the largest domestic source of renewable energy. Similarly, the European Union received 66.1% of its renewable energy from biomass, which thus surpassed the total combined contribution from hydropower, wind power, geothermal energy, and solar power. In addition to energy, the production of chemicals from biomass is also essential; indeed, the only renewable source of liquid transportation fuels is currently obtained from biomass.

3,644 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Strong acids and bases seem to be the best desorbing agents to produce arsenic concentrates, and some commercial adsorbents which include resins, gels, silica, treated silica tested for arsenic removal come out to be superior.

3,168 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Due to complexity of soil-water system in nature, the effectiveness of biochars on remediation of various organic/inorganic contaminants is still uncertain.

3,163 citations


Cites background or methods from "Pyrolysis of Wood/Biomass for Bio-o..."

  • ...Pyrolysis is generally divided into fast, intermediate, and slow depending on the residence time and temperature (Table 1; Mohan et al., 2006)....

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  • ...However, bioenergy production is dependent on the pyrolysis conditions, in which the slow pyrolysis results in a lower yield of liquid fuel and more biochar, whereas the fast pyrolysis generates more liquid fuel (bio-oil) with relatively less biochar (Mohan et al., 2006)....

    [...]

  • ...Fast pyrolysis with a very short residence time (<2 s) is often used to produce bio-oil from biomass yielding about 75% bio-oil (Mohan et al., 2006)....

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  • ...The resulting gas mixture is known as synthetic gas or syngas (Mohan et al., 2006)....

    [...]

  • ...Slow and intermediate pyrolysis processes with a residence time of few minutes to several hours or even days are generally favored for biochar 2009), Mohan et al. (2006), and Sohi et al. (2009)]....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of pyrolysis temperature, particle size, heating rate and sweeping gas (N2) flow rate on the product yields and their chemical compositions were investigated.

154 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
01 May 2003-Fuel
TL;DR: In this article, a modified Fitch apparatus was constructed, calibrated and used for measurement of particle conductivity of softwood (SW), softwood bark (SB) and therein derived softwood char (SC).

150 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Waterloo Fast Pyrolysis methodology was used to evaluate the yields of pyrolytic liquids from Italian sweet sorghum and sweet-sorghum bagasse as mentioned in this paper.

146 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of an HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst used in situ in a conical spouted bed reactor in the flash pyrolysis of sawdust at 400 °C was investigated.
Abstract: A study has been conducted on the effect of an HZSM-5 zeolite catalyst used in situ in a conical spouted bed reactor in the flash pyrolysis of sawdust at 400 °C. The presence of the catalyst allows great changes in the yields of gas, liquid, and char. Thus, the yield of gas increases as the catalyst amount is increased, whereas the yield of liquid decreases significantly and the yield of char decreases slightly. The values of the kinetic constants corresponding to the kinetic scheme proposed for the catalytic pyrolysis have been calculated. This scheme includes two new steps that are different from those of thermal pyrolysis, namely, the transformation of the liquid into gas and char. As a consequence of the use of the catalyst, the composition of the bio-oil undergoes a drastic change, given that the heavy organic fraction is partially transformed to the aqueous fraction due cracking, whereas the aqueous liquid fraction undergoes reactions of dehydration, decarboxylation, and decarbonylation. These react...

145 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, pine wood was pyrolysed in an externally heated 7.5 cm diameter, 100 cm high fluidised bed pyrolysis reactor with nitrogen as the fluidising gas.
Abstract: Biomass in the form of pine wood was pyrolysed in an externally heated 7.5 cm diameter, 100 cm high fluidised bed pyrolysis reactor with nitrogen as the fluidising gas. A section of the freeboard of the reactor was packed with zeolite ZSM-5 catalyst. The pyrolysis oils before and after catalysis were collected in a series of condensers and cold traps. In addition, gases were analysed off-line by packed column gas chromatography. The compositions of the oils and gases were determined in relation to the primary fluidised bed and after catalysis at increasing catalyst bed temperatures from 400° to 550°C. The oils were analysed by a number of techniques to determine composition, including liquid chromatography, gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and size exclusion chromatography. The results showed that the oils before catalysis were highly oxygenated; after catalysis the oils were markedly reduced in oxygenated species with an increase in aromatic and polycyclic aromatic species. The gases evolved from the fluidised bed pyrolysis of biomass were CO2, CO, H2, CH4, C2H4, C3H6 and minor concentrations of other hydrocarbon gases. After catalysis the concentrations of CO2 and CO were increased. The conversion of oxygenated compounds was mainly to H2O at lower catalyst temperatures and CO2 and CO at high catalyst temperatures. Detailed analysis of the oils showed that there were high concentrations of biologically active polycyclic aromatic species in the catalysed oil which increased with increasing catalyst temperature. The oxygenated compounds in the uncatalysed oil were mainly phenols and car☐ylic acids. After catalysis these decreased in concentration with increasing catalyst temperature

143 citations