Properties of sugarcane waste-derived bio-oils obtained by fixed-bed fire-tube heating pyrolysis

Agricultural waste in the form of sugarcane bagasse was pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed fire-tube heating reactor under different pyrolysis conditions to determine the role of final temperature, sweeping gas flow rate and feed size on the product yields. Final temperature range studied was between 375 and 575 degrees C and the highest liquid product yield was obtained at 475 degrees C. Liquid products obtained under the most suitable conditions were characterized by physical properties, elemental analysis, GCV. FT-IR, (1)H NMR analysis and distillation. The empirical formula of the bio-oil with heating value of 23.5 MJ/kg was established as CH(1.68)O(0.557)N(0.012). Comparison with other approaches showed that the liquid product yield by this simpler reactor system was higher with better physico-chemical properties as fuel. These findings show that fixed-bed fire-tube heating pyrolysis is a good option for production of bio-oils from biomass solid wastes. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.