Bio-oil production from pyrolysis and steam pyrolysis of soybean-cake:: product yields and composition

The slow pyrolysis of soybean cake in a fixed-bed reactor was investigated under three different atmospheres: static, for determining the effects of pyrolysis temperature and particle size, nitrogen and steam. The liquid yield of 33.78% was attained at 550 degreesC pyrolysis temperature and 200 cm(3)/min sweeping gas flow rate with the soybean oil cake samples having 0.850<1.250 mm particle size. And the liquid yield reached a maximum value of 42.79% with a steam velocity of 1.3 cm/s. Column chromatography was used to characterize the liquid product, bio-oil. The aliphatic subfractions of the oils were then analyzed by GC/MS. FTIR and H-1-NMR spectra were used to determine structural analysis of pyrolysis oils and aromatic and polar subfractions. The H/C ratios and the structure analysis of the fractions obtained from the biocrudes show that the fractions are quite similar to currently utilized transport fuels. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.