Fast pyrolysis of pinewood sawdust and two of its major components, namely lignin and cellulose was carried out using a laboratory scale induction-heating reactor. The effect of five different temperatures (500°, 550°, 600°, 650° and 700 °C) was tested on the product yield and quality. The products were characterized to evaluate the water content, elemental composition, chemical composition and energy content. The char yield decreased with temperature for all of the biomasses. The maximum liquid yield of 55.28% was achieved at 600 °C for pine sawdust, and the highest liquid yields for cellulose and lignin were obtained at 500 °C. Water content in the liquid fraction decreased as reaction temperature increased. The GC-MS revealed that the bio-oil from cellulose was rich in anhydrosugars while majority of the liquid from lignin had high phenolic contents. Analysis of the gas fraction shows that as the temperature increases the gas yield increases, which, when paired with the declining char masses, showed an increase in the biomass breakdown at higher temperatures. Liquid fraction from pine sawdust has the highest HHV with a peak at 550 °C.

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1Upgrading of pyrolysis bio-oil is an important process for obtaining stable, high quality bio-oil. 2Rapid and uniform heating of both biomass and catalyst bed plays an important role in the 3 product quality and in the overall process efficiency. Induction heating offers numerous 4 advantages over conventional heating methods; rapid, efficient heating and precise temperature 5 control. In this study, an advanced induction heating technology was tested for pyrolysis as well 6 as catalyst bed heating. Three different catalyst to biomass ratios were studied (1:1, 1.5:1, and 7 2:1 weight basis), and the effect of catalyst bed temperature (290ºC, 330ºC and 370°C) was also 8 investigated. The results were compared with conventionally heated catalyst bed reactor. Higher 9 quality bio-oil was obtained with induction heating reactor with increased yield of aromatic 10 hydrocarbons and reduced oxygen content compared to conventional heating. Inductively heated 11 catalyst was also observed to have lower carbon deposition after reaction compared to 12 conventionally heated catalyst. Higher BET surface area was available post reaction for 13 inductively heated catalyst. This observation could be attributed to higher thermal gradients in 14 conventional reactor that causes condensation of molecules on catalyst surface with cooler 15 temperatures, effects that are less pronounced for the inductively heated catalyst. 16

Pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass is a critical steps in bioethanol production. Ultrasonic pretreatment significantly improves cellulose hydrolysis increasing sugar yields, but current system designs have limitations related to efficiency and scalability. This study evaluates the ultrasonic pretreatment of energy cane bagasse in a novel scalable configuration and by maximizing coupling of ultrasound energy to the material via active modulation of frequency. Pretreatment was conducted in 28% ammonia water mixture at a sample:ammonia:water ratio of 1:0.5:8. Process performance was investigated as a function of frequency (20, 20.5, 21kHz), reaction time (30, 45, 60min), temperature, and power levels for multiple combinations of ammonia, water and sample mixture. Results indicated an increased enzymatic digestibility, with maximum glucose yield of 24.29g/100g dry biomass. Theoretical ethanol yields obtained ranged from 6.47 to a maximum of 24.29g/100g dry biomass. Maximum energy attainable was 886.34kJ/100g dry biomass.