Production of Hythane by Stepped Pyrolysis of Biomass

Abstract

The transportation industry mainly uses conventional fuel like petrol and diesel, which produces greenhouse gases and cause serious environmental concerns. A clean, sustainable renewable fuel is needed to minimize the high carbon footprint and emissions. This study focuses on producing Hythane(mainly a mixture of hydrogen and methane) from biomass through the pyrolysis route. Sawdust and groundnut shell is slowly pyrolyzed in the vertical reactor to produce hythane gas. The weight loss profile was studied through a thermogravimetric analyzer, and the effect of temperature on hythane gas composition was analyzed by gas chromatography. The hythane gas contains almost 40%-45% of hydrogen and 12 to 25% methane along with oxides of carbon, which depends upon temperature and feedstock types.