Pyrolysis of biomass in a semi-industrial scale reactor: Study of the fuel-nitrogen oxidation during combustion of volatiles

In this work, an experimental study of the NOx-fuel formation, carried out on a semi-industrial scale reactor during combustion of volatiles of the pyrolysis, is performed. Two different biomasses with different nitrogen contents such as a mixture of organic sludge and wood were tested. Results show that the temperature of pyrolysis does not obviously affect the production of NOx-fuel because of the most active precursors (NH3 and HCN) are already released at low temperatures (400 degrees C). In the case of sludge mixture, the combustion conditions play the discriminating role in the production of NOx-fuel: the higher the excess air ratio the larger the production of nitrogen oxides from N-fuel. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.