Bio-oil from cassava peel: A potential renewable energy source

In this work, liquid biofuel (bio-oil) was produced by pyrolizing cassava peel. The experiments were conducted isothermally in a fixed-bed tubular reactor at temperatures ranging from 400 to 600 degrees C with a heating rate of 20 degrees C/min. The chemical compositions of bio-oil were analyzed by a gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technique. For the optimization of liquid product, temperature was plotted to be the most decisive factor. The maximum yield of bio-oil ca. 51.2% was obtained at 525 degrees C and the biofuel has a gross calorific value of 27.43 MJ/kg. The kinetic-based mechanistic model fitted well with experimental yield of pyrolysis products with the mean squared error (MSE) of 13.37 (R-2 = 0.96) for solid (char), 16.24 (R-2 = 0.95) for liquid (bio-oil), and 0.49 (R-2 = 0.99) for gas. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.