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Pyrolysis of Biomass for Biofuel Production

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Green Fuels Technology

Part of the book series: Green Energy and Technology ((GREEN))

Abstract

Due to the depletion of fossil fuel reserves and the environmental issues derived from their use, biomasses have been proposed and used as one of the renewable energy sources for the replacement of fossil fuels. Biomass can be converted into energy by means of thermochemical conversion processes. The pyrolysis process is the thermal degradation of biomass under an inert atmosphere leading to three different products: solid char, liquid biofuel, and fuel gas. This thermochemical process involves complex and multiple reactions. In this chapter, the biomass pyrolysis is studied using one of the main analytical tools to evaluate the potential of biomass: the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) coupled with mass spectrometry (MS). This tool lets to observe the four main stages of pyrolysis process: dehydration, devolatilization, char formation, and inorganic matter decomposition. Gases evolved were studied by means of mass spectrometry, and the solid fuel (char) derived from pyrolysis was characterized using different techniques, such as elemental analysis, TGA, bomb calorimetry, and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). This chapter also discusses the kinetics of pyrolysis and the way to evaluate the kinetic parameters which are necessary for industrially scaling up.

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Abbreviations

TGA:

Thermogravimetric Analysis

MS:

Mass Spectrometry

ICP-AES:

Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy

LSM:

Livestock Manure

SWOT:

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats

DTG:

Derivative Thermogravimetric

HHV:

High Heating Value

T:

Temperature

P:

Pressure

α:

Extent of conversion

A :

Preexponential factor

E a :

Activation energy

R :

Universal gas constant

FWO:

Flynn-Wall-Ozawa

KAS:

Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Univeristy of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), Avda. Camilo José Cela, 12, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Maria Fernandez-Lopez, Jose Luis Valverde & Luz Sanchez-Silva

  2. Centre National en Électrochimie et en Technologie Environnementales Inc., 2263, avenue du Collège, Shawinigan, (QC), G9N 6V8, Canada

    Antonio Avalos-Ramirez

Authors
  1. Maria Fernandez-Lopez
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  2. Antonio Avalos-Ramirez
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  3. Jose Luis Valverde
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  4. Luz Sanchez-Silva
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Luz Sanchez-Silva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Head of the Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Federal University of Parana, Curitiba, Brazil

    Carlos Ricardo Soccol

  2. Centre for Water, Earth and Environment, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre for Water, Earth and Environment, Quebec (Qc), Canada

    Satinder Kaur Brar

  3. POLYTECH Marseille, INRA UMR 1163 (Biodiversity and Biotechn Aix Marseille Université, Marseille cedex 09, France

    Craig Faulds

  4. Department of Chemistry Research Center in Applied Chemistry (CE, Federal University of Paraná (UFPR), Curitiba PR, Brazil

    Luiz Pereira Ramos

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Fernandez-Lopez, M., Avalos-Ramirez, A., Valverde, J.L., Sanchez-Silva, L. (2016). Pyrolysis of Biomass for Biofuel Production. In: Soccol, C., Brar, S., Faulds, C., Ramos, L. (eds) Green Fuels Technology. Green Energy and Technology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30205-8_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30205-8_19

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-30203-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-30205-8

  • eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)

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