Cellulose-lignin and Xylan-lignin Interactions on the Formation of Lignin-derived Phenols in Pyrolysis Oil

Abstract

To gain a better understanding of the effect of the interactions between two biomass components (cellulose-lignin and xylan-lignin) on ligninderived phenolic products, two analysis methods are introduced. With 3:1, 2:1, and 1:1 ratios of cellulose and lignin, and xylan and lignin, the mixtures were subjected to fast pyrolysis, which was carried out in a fixed-bed tubular furnace at 450 to 600 °C. The phenolic content in the bio-oils was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The product distributions showed that cellulose, xylan, and lignin were the main contributors to the mass of biomass bio-oil, gas, and char, respectively. The char yields decreased and the bio-oil and gas yields increased in the presences of cellulose and xylan. Comparative analyses of both the phenol content and peak area of the two methods suggest that in the case of cellulose and lignin co-pyrolysis, the formation of three kinds of phenolic products is promoted. The strength of this positive effect increased with increasing lignin content. However, the production of hydroxyphenols is promoted, while the productions of guaiacols and syringols are inhibited by the effect of xylan, which creates a different interaction between xylan and lignin.

Correlation between persistent free radicals of biochar and bio-oil yield at different pyrolysis temperatures

“…The main factors affecting the final product and its distribution of thermal cracking are biomass material properties (type and particle size), pyrolysis reaction temperature, heating rate, gas phase residence time, catalyst, and reaction pressure, etc. (Liu et al 2017;Dong et al 2018). There are varieties of biomass pyrolysis processes, but the essence of their chemical reaction is the free radical mechanism (Demirbaş 2000).…”

Does the presence of lignin affect the pyrolytic decomposition of cellulose? A condensed phase computational investigation

“…This overlap in regime 2 (313–438 °C) could lead to CH–π interactions between cellulose and lignin, enhancing lignin-derived products such as phenolics. 35,36 These observations highlight that in the pyrolytic ‘melt-phase’, interactions between the biopolymers indeed exist but in a narrow temperature range with the overlapping of cellulose and lignin decomposition. Therefore, this paper is focused on the influences of lignin on cellulose decomposition.…”

Bio-oil from Oil Palm Shell Pyrolysis as Renewable Energy: A Review

“…al. [38] studied the pyrolysis of a mixture of cellulose and lignin. They showed that the increase in bio-oil yield with increasing cellulose content was not proven, indicating that lignin inhibited cellulose pyrolysis to bio-oil.…”