Ablative fast pyrolysis—Potential for cost effective conversion of agricultural residues

Apfelbacher, Andreas; Conrad, Stefan; Schulzke, Tim

doi:10.1002/ep.12017

Cited by 16 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…As herbaceous biomass has a low volumetric energy density it is not possible to transport it over long distances to centralized conversion plants economically. Therefore, it seemed to be more economic to move the pyrolyzer around at least to the field margins where the feedstock originates from [10]. The principle of AFP for the conversion of woody biomass was developed by Lédé [11] and further developed for practical application by Pytec, a company from Hamburg [12,13], and most recently picked up again by Luo [14,15].…”

Section: Ablative Fast Pyrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuels from Reliable Bio-based Refinery Intermediates: BioMates

Schulzke

Conrad

Shumeiko

et al. 2019

Waste Biomass Valor

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The overall aim of the project "BioMates" is to develop a conversion process for agricultural residues (cereal straw) or energy crops (miscanthus) into a liquid intermediate with reliable properties for the co-processing in existing petroleum refineries. The process is divisible into two individual stepsablative fast pyrolysis and mild hydrotreatment. Both biomass feedstocks were pyrolysed in a laboratory plant and optimal parameters leading to highest organic liquid yield were determined to be 540 °C at the hot surface, 50 bar hydraulic pressure and 80 rpm of rotational speed of the ablation plate. Different setups for condensation and catalytic vapour upgrade were tested and best results regarding highest organic yield with lowest water content could be achieved with a two-stage condensation operating at about 68 °C condensation temperature in the first stage. Here, a total yield of 41 wt.-% in (oxygenated) organic compounds could be achieved in the first stage condensate compared to only 36 wt.-% in the tarry phase of single stage condensation. Catalysts for direct upgrading of vapours were tested but found to be inappropriate in the current setup. For mild hydrotreatment conventional sulphidized catalyst and newly developed non-sulphidized catalysts were tested. The new catalysts showed high initial reactivity but fast deactivation. Currently, the commercial catalyst with NiMo-system on Al2O3-support performed best, especially at 8 MPa hydrogen supply pressure and 360 °C operating temperature. Here, water content below 1 wt.-%, a density of organic product below 0.9 kg dm -3 and a lower heating value above 39 MJ kg -1 was achieved. Electrochemical compression and purification can supply hydrogen at necessary pressure and flow rate with acceptable energy demand and by that can replace mechanical compression on the supply side and pressure swing adsorption system in the recycle loop. The project aims were fully achieved in TRL3-4 and will be demonstrated in TRL5 until the end of the project.

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Section: Ablative Fast Pyrolysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Fuels from Reliable Bio-based Refinery Intermediates: BioMates

Schulzke

Conrad

Shumeiko

et al. 2019

Waste Biomass Valor

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“…For ablative fast pyrolysis, where heat transfer to biomass particles happens in direct contact with a hot surface, the biomass requires to be compressed in form of briquettes and bio‐oil yields are lower compared to fluidized bed. This technology might not be the most effective pyrolytic conversion of straw into pyrolysis oil but it has several advantages compared to others: low inert gas requirement, low biomass preparation costs and potential of being operated on a mobile platform …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This technology might not be the most effective pyrolytic conversion of straw into pyrolysis oil but it has several advantages compared to others: low inert gas requirement, low biomass preparation costs and potential of being operated on a mobile platform. 8 During fast pyrolysis process the organic material (preferably lignocellulosic material) is decomposed at 450-550 C in absence of oxygen. The decomposition of lignocellulosic material (with the main ingredients: cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) is a result of chemical bond cleavage that occurs at elevated temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparison of fast pyrolysis bio‐oils from straw and miscanthus

Conrad

Blajin

Schulzke

et al. 2019

Env Prog and Sustain Energy

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Fast pyrolysis is one of the most promising conversion processes for producing advanced biofuels, which can be used as substitute for fuel oils or chemicals. This article investigates the fast pyrolysis of two common types of biomass: a mixture of wheat/barley straw as typical agriculture residue and miscanthus as fast‐growing energy plant. All experiments were performed using an ablative hot surface reactor. It was observed that the product yields using wheat/barley straw and miscanthus are almost similar on mass basis. Noteworthy were the higher share on reaction water and a lower content of organics in the wheat/barley straw based pyrolysis bio‐oil. As a result of the high total water content (about 48 wt%), the bio‐oil separated into two phases: an upper aqueous phase and a bottom tarry phase. The amount of water‐soluble organic compounds contained in the aqueous phase of bio‐oil derived from miscanthus pyrolysis can be attributed to the higher amount of hemicellulose present in miscanthus compared to straw. The phase separation by decantation is not an efficient method to reduce the water content and total acid number because a part of valuable components will be lost to the aqueous phase. Significance The production of bio‐oils through fast pyrolysis technologies (mainly small scale and fluidized bed reactor systems) is widely described in literature. Therefore, the main objective of this work lies in the comparison of yield and quality of bio‐oils from different biomasses (straw as example for agricultural residues and miscanthus representing dedicated energy crops) in the same ablative hot surface reactor with a capacity of about 5 kg/hr.

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“…Ablative fast pyrolysis has the potential to produce liquid energy carrier from abundantly available [1], residual solid biomass like cereal or rape straw under economic conditions [2,3]. Although pyrolysis condensates as primary products are a mixture of high-value compounds, they exhibit several disadvantageous properties [4,5]:…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%