Synergistic effects of lignin and cellulose during pyrolysis of agricultural waste.

Volpe, Roberto; Zabaniotou, Anastasia A.; Skoulou, Vasiliki

Abstract

© 2018 American Chemical Society. Varying lignin and cellulose contents in agro-waste cause feed-stock to respond differently during their thermochemical conversion. The effect of pyrolysis temperature (400, 500, 600oC) and feedstock composition on product yields and gas composition of Olive-Kernel (OK) and Corn-Cobs (CC) was investigated in a lab-scale, fix bed reactor under a 20mL/min of nitrogen flow at atmospheric pressure. Results were compared to those obtained in the same pyrolysis set up from model synthetic mixtures of cellulose and lignin, simulating the composition of real feedstocks. Experimental results showed how lignin influences the thermochemical process and how non-negligible synergistic effects among lignin and cellulose are affecting the process outcomes. Lignin affects the increase in char yields from synthetic mixtures more than it does in real feedstock. Similarly higher yield of CO2 in produced gas is reported from pyrolysis of synthetic mixtures compared to that obtained from real feedstock containing the same amount of lignin. Thus the pyrolysis behaviour of raw feedstock cannot be satisfactorily predicted by the behaviour of their main components in an 'additive' rule.

Citation

Volpe, R., Zabaniotou, A. A., & Skoulou, V. (2018). Synergistic effects of lignin and cellulose during pyrolysis of agricultural waste. Energy and Fuels, 32(8), 8420-8430. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00767

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Mar 6, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jun 25, 2018
• Publication Date: Aug 16, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jun 27, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 26, 2019
• Print ISSN: 0887-0624
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 32
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 8420-8430
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00767
• Keywords: Lignin; cellulose; agricultural waste; pyrolysis; product yields; gas composition; biomass; bioenergy; biomaterials
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/729936
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.energyfuels.8b00767
• Contract Date: Jun 27, 2018