Pyrolysis is a fundamental thermochemical conversion method that can be used to transform biomass directly into synthesis gas, liquid fuels, and chemicals. Biomass is comprised primarily of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose is the most abundant organic compound in nature, comprising up to 50 wt% of dry biomass. Whereas the most of the cellulose kinetics studies focused on the direct conventional pyrolysis, the fractional pyrolysis (called also stepwise or partial pyrolysis) could be an interesting process to be acutely examined. According to the few reported studies, the fractional pyrolysis produce pyrolysis oils with a lower content of acids, concentrated desired compounds and improved their properties. It can be also implicated during cigarette smoking to mimic a puffing process. In this work, the fractional pyrolysis of cellulose in one atmosphere of nitrogen gas flow and vapor residence time of 0.2 sec was performed in isothermal conditions using System for Thermal Diagnostic Studies (STDS) at temperature range of 200 to 900 degree Celsius. A lumped kinetic model for the fractional pyrolysis of cellulose is proposed based on the pseudo-components representing different lumps of products. The kinetic parameters (pre-exponential A factor , and activation energy E<sub>a</sub>) for pseudo-first order formation of major products grouped into heavy volatiles 1 lump, namely levoglucosan and anhydrosugars, and light volatiles 2 lump such as furans and carbonyls, were derived from the experimental data using non-linear least-square method. The kinetic model was validated by combination of newly acquired and published pyrolysis data for the cellulose stepwise pyrolysis. Overall, the comparison between predicted and experimental results exhibited a good performance of the proposed model.

Kinetic modeling of cellulose fractional pyrolysis

254th National Meeting (2017)

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