Development and optimization of fast ablative pyrolysis technology in Ukraine

Abstract

The article contains the aggregated results of the development and optimization of laboratory installation for ablative fast pyrolysis performance with productivity 1–4 kg/hour on final products. The experimental data on a series of experiments (>60) with analysis of the influence of a certain range of input parameters on the bio-oil yield and qualitative parameters of output products is presented. The optimization of installation regimes and input parameters for bio-oil yield maximization for different biomass types is performed. It was found that the ratio of three output products is not always optimal maximizing bio-oil yield with respect to energy yield in the products. The maximum achieved bio-oil yield is 51%, with the average level of 44% (by mass rated to the input products). It is revealed that the final bio-oil yield depends mainly on temperature in the reactor, time of biomass particles existence in the reactor, and biomass fraction. The mass distribution for pyrolysis by-products (pyrogas and biochar) is dependent on the initial moisture content of biomass and organization of the condensation process of bio-oil. The energy balance of installation demonstrates the average efficiency of the pyrolysis process on the level of 65% (with maximum 98%) and could be increased to 90% average with a simple reconstruction of installation. On the basis of obtained laboratory data, the scaling of the installation was performed with the development of a commercial prototype with the productivity of 50 kg/hour. On the basis of obtained technical data, the assessment of economic indicators of bio-oil and biochar production with large sized mobile installation has been performed demonstrating a good commercial feasibility of the installation performance.