An Experimental Study of the Vapor Temperature in the Reaction Zone for Producing Liquid from Camphor Wood in a Non-sweeping Gas Fixed-bed Pyrolysis Reactor

Abstract

The liquids produced by the pyrolysis process with biomass as the raw material are popularly called bio-oil. The reaction zone temperature in the pyrolysis process affects the liquid yield in a non-sweeping gas fixed-bed reactor. This research aims to obtain the effect of temperature in the reaction zone on the liquid yield. Camphor wood was fed into the reactor as raw material. An electric heater was controlled using the proportional integral differential (PID) controller to keep the reactor temperature constant at 500°C as an optimum decomposition temperature. To control the vapor temperature in the reaction zone, an electric heater was mounted on the wall of the reaction zone, which was equipped with a PID controller to keep the temperature constant. To convert the pyrolysis vapor into liquid, a double pipe condenser was used in the system. This study showed that the liquid yield increases as the vapor temperature increases. The rise in vapor temperature from an ambient temperature to 200°C increases the liquid yield 17.0 wt% with a low heating rate, 5 wt% with a heating rate of 8°C/minute and 4.5 wt% with a heating rate of 17°C/minute. Early condensation occurred due to the low temperature of the vapor at the reaction zone.

Influence of Feedstock Particle Size from Merbau Wood (Intsia bijuga) on Bio-Oil Production Using a Heat Pipe Fin L-Shaped Condenser in a Pyrolysis Process

“…The yields of a few of the high-boiling-point component compounds in the liquid were higher with the particle size corresponding to mesh 10 and vapor temperature of 250°C. Some vapors of the high-boiling-point compounds condensed on the reaction-zone wall owing to the low temperature of the wall in the case when the vapor heater was not used [19]. By contrast, the use of the vapor heater maintained the wall temperature at a high level, preventing premature vapor condensation, as indicated by the higher percentage in case of the vapor temperature of 250°C.…”

“…The presence of a vapor chamber in the system increases the heating rate and enhances cooling performance [18]. The liquid yield increases due to an increase of the vapor temperature up to 200 °C ; this process was obtained in a fixed bed reactor at a low heating rate [19].…”

“…They obtained a maximum liquid yield of 32.2 wt.% at a pyrolysis temperature of 500°C, a cooling water temperature of 15°C, and a heating rate of 44.43°C/min. The maximum liquid yield was 30.50 wt.% for an uncontrolled reaction temperature (without a proportional-integral-derivative (PID) controller), and the process occurred with a maximum heat supply of 1,000 W, a heating switch at 500°C, and a heating rate of 7.34°C/min; the temperature of the cooling water was the same as the ambient temperature [10].…”

Non-Sweep Gas Pyrolysis with Vapor Heater using “Shorea Pinanga” as a feedstock

“…The vapor temperature in the reaction zone was influenced by the heating rate and pyrolysis temperature. The vapor pressure in the reaction zone was relatively low, and the vapor temperature was around 110 ℃ 24) . Schulzke at el., installed electrical trace heating at the reaction zone's piping line to avoid the vapor condensation before LCS 21) .…”