Co-Pyrolysis of Agricultural Biomass Residue for the Production of Bio-fuel in a Fixed Bed Reactor

Abstract

Pyrolysis, a process of thermal cracking in an inert environment, can be employed to produce bio-oil from agricultural biomass, utilizing renewable energy sources. Despite the abundance of biomass waste in Pakistan, it remains underutilized and inadequately processed, leading to an unclean environment. The objective of this study was to assess the impact of temperature and identify the optimal temperature for achieving the highest bio-oil yield. Furthermore, the study aimed to investigate the influence of the ratio of Date palm tree waste (DPTW) to banana tree waste (BTW) on the bio-oil yield during co- pyrolysis. The nitrogen flow rate was adjusted to maximize oil production. The co- pyrolysis experiments were conducted using a laboratory-scale fixed bed reactor, with temperatures ranging from 400 °C to 600 °C, nitrogen flow rates of 1 lit/mint and 2 lit/mint, and a total biomass weight of 30 g. The mass ratio of DPTW to BTW in the feed blend was varied as follows: 100:00, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 00:100. The results indicated that the highest bio-oil yield was achieved at the optimum temperature of 500 °C, with a nitrogen flow rate of 1 lit/mint and a DPTW to BTW mass ratio of 75:25. Under these optimized pyrolysis conditions, a bio-oil yield of 31.5 wt. % was obtained. The chemical composition of the bio-oil was determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) analysis.