Abstract:
The work presented in this study explores the process of co-pyrolysis of biomass
Vachellia Farnesiana (VF) and plastic polypropylene (PP) with different biomass and
plastic mixtures and with or without the addition of sodium carbonate catalyst. The goal
of the project is to find bio-oil sample with good heating value and yield for use in
energy production. For this purpose, the copyrolysis process was used for biomass
Vachellia Farnesiana and plastic Polypropylene mixture. A round bottom flask was
used as a batch reactor. Overall, four process parameters were varied in a series of
experiments. The most optimum process parameters were found to be temperature 450
oC, residence time 40 minutes, N2 flow rate 50 ml/min and catalyst loading of 5 %.
Under the influence of these conditions, best bio-oil yield and heating value (HHV) was
found which were 63.4 % and 40.44 MJ/kg respectively. After optimum process
conditions were determined, experiments were conducted with different biomass
loadings with and without sodium carbonate catalyst. The results confirmed the use of
30% biomass loading provides best results in copyrolsis. After these experiments, TGA
and DTGA of biomass and bio-oil were performed and their results showed that their
behavior was similar to other biomass and bio-oil samples given in literature. GCMS
analysis was also performed which revealed that by using sodium carbonate as catalyst,
quantity of alkanes was increased, and that phenols and carboxylic acids slightly
reduced. Due to presence of alkanes and alkenes, the heating value of bio-oil was
increased. Overall, it was proven that sodium carbonate can positively catalyze the co-
pyrolysis process to produce good quality bio-oil
