Pyrolysis of rice husk and corn stalk in auger reactor: Part 1. Characterization of char and gas at various temperatures

Yang Yu, Yang Yang, Zhicai Cheng, Paula H. Blanco, Ronghou Liu, A.V. Bridgwater, Junmeng Cai*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

In this study, rice husk and corn stalk have been pyrolyzed in an auger pyrolysis reactor at pyrolysis temperatures of 350, 400, 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C in order to investigate the effect of the pyrolysis temperature on the pyrolysis performance of the reactor and physicochemical properties of pyrolysis products (this paper focuses on char and gas). The results have shown that the pyrolysis temperature significantly affects the mass yields and properties of the pyrolysis products. The mass yields of pyrolysis liquid and char are comparable to those reported for the same feedstocks processed in fluidized bed reactors. With the increase of the pyrolysis temperature, the pyrolysis liquid yield shows a peak at 500 °C, the char yield decreases, and the gas yield increases for both feedstocks. The higher heating value (HHV) and volatile matter content of char increase as the pyrolysis temperature increases from 350 to 600 °C. The gases obtained from the pyrolysis of rice husk and corn stalk mainly contain CO2, CO, CH4, H2, and other light hydrocarbons; the molar fractions of combustible gases increase and therefore their HHVs subsequently increase with the increase of the pyrolysis temperature.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)10568–10574
Number of pages7
JournalEnergy and Fuels
Volume30
Issue number12
Early online date20 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Dec 2016

Bibliographical note

This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of a Published Work that appeared in final form in Energy and Fuels, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review and technical editing by the publisher. To access the final edited and published work see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.6b02276

Funding: International Research Staff Exchange Scheme (IRSES) ECOFUEL programme (FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IRSES Grant 246772); and EPSRC Supergen Bioenergy Challenge ‘‘PyroAD’’ Project (EP/K036793/1).

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