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A KINETIC MODEL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LIQUIDSFROM THE FLASH PYROLYSIS OF BIOMASSA.G. LIDEN a , F. BERRUTI b & D.S. SCOTT ca Department of Chemical Engineering , University of Minnesota# , 19, 151 mundson Hall 421Washington Ave, S.E. Minneapolis, Minn, 55455, U.S.A.b Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering , The University of Calgary , Calgary,Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada.c Department of Chemical Engineering , University of Waterloo , Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1,Canada.Published online: 27 Aug 2010.

To cite this article: A.G. LIDEN , F. BERRUTI & D.S. SCOTT (1988) A KINETIC MODEL FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LIQUIDS FROMTHE FLASH PYROLYSIS OF BIOMASS, Chemical Engineering Communications, 65:1, 207-221, DOI: 10.1080/00986448808940254

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00986448808940254

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Chem. Eng. Comm. 1988, Vol. 65, pp. 207-221Reprints available directly from the publisher.Photocopying permitted by license only. 1988 Gordon and Breach Science Publishers S.A.Printed in the United States of America

A KINETIC MODEL FOR THE PRODUCTION OFLIQUIDS FROM THE FLASH PYROLYSIS OF

BIOMASSA.G. LIDEN,! F. BERRUTI,zt and D.S. SCOTT]

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Minnesota, #19, 151Amundson Hall, 421 Washington Ave. S.E. Minneapolis, Minn., 55455 U.S.A.

(612) 625-9013. 2 Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, TheUniversity of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada (403) 220-6529.

3 Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo,Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada (519) 885-1211.

(Received Seplember 10, t987; in final form October 19, 1987)

A kinetically based prediction model for the production of organic liquids from the flash pyrolysis ofbiomass is proposed. Wood or other biomass is assumed to be decomposed according to two parallelreactions yielding liquid tar and (gas + char). The tar is then assumed to further react by secondaryhomogeneous reactions to form mainly gas as a product.

The model provides a very good agreement with the experimental results obtained using a pilotplant fluidized bed pyrolysis reactor.

The proposed model is shown to be able to predict the organic liquid yield as a function of theoperating parameters of the process, within the optimal conditions for maximizing the tar yields, andthe reaction rate constants compare reasonably well with those reported in the literature.KEYWORDS Flash biomass pyrolysis Tar Reaction model, Fluidized bed reactor

INTRODUCfION

The thermal conversion of biomass to organic liquid products can be accompl-ished using several techniques. One possible method is biomass flash pyrolysis.

Biomass flash pyrolysis is a rapid heating-rate process occurring at moderatetemperatures (typically from 400C to 600C) in which a high yield of liquidtar/oil product is obtained (Scott and Piskorz, 1982, 1984). The process requiresvapor residence times less than 1 second and solids residence times slightly higherbut of the same order of magnitude (Scott and Piskorz, 1982).

A fluidized bed reactor has been used successfully in the flash pyrolysis processto produce a liquid oil from a wide variety of biomass feedstocks, with organicliquid yields as high as 60-70% by weight (on a moisture free basis) of thematerial fed, using hardwoods such as aspen-poplar and maple (Scott andPiskorz, 1982, 1984, 1985).

t To whom correspondence should be addressed.

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