Experimental Study of Bio-oil Production from Corn Stalk Using a Fluidized Bed under Hot Flue Atmosphere

Experimental study of Bio-oil Production from Corn Stalk using a Fluidized bed under hot flue atmosphere

Zhihe Li^a, Weisheng Niu^b, Weiming Yi^a*, Yongjun Li^a, Peng Fu^a, Deli Zhang ^a, Jing Wang^a, Xueyuan Bai^a *

^aSchool of Agricultural and Food Engineering, Shandong University of Technology, Zibo 255049, China

^bSchool of Engineering, Shenyang Agricultural University,Shenyang110866, China

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +86 533 2786308; Fax: +86 533 2786158

Abstract

In order to investigate the effects of pyrolysis temperature on the product yields,  fast pyrolysis experiments for bio-oil production have been conducted on corn stalk using a novel fluidized bed reactor under hot flue atmosphere at the selected temperature range of 450-520℃. During experiments, un-condensable gases were detected on-line with Gasboard-3100. The bio-oil obtained under the experimental conditions that gave maximum oil yield were used for further characterization.The chemical compositions of the bio-oil were determined by GC-MS. Physical analysis of the bio-oil such as pH value, viscosity and calorific value were determined with PHS-2F pH meter (Shanghai Precision and Science Instrument Co., LTD), NDJ-1 rotational viscometer (Shanghai Changyi Gealogical Instruments Co., Ltd) and WZR-1T oxygen combustion bomb (Changsha Bente Apparatus), respectively.

The results show that maximum bio-oil yield of 54.1wt% is achievedd at 500℃. The main components of un-condensable gaseous mixture includes Methane, Hydrogen, Carbon dioxide and Carbon monoxide. Bio-oil is a complex compound which contains many chemical species and it is an acidic, high viscosity, low heat value and low volatility liquid in comparison with diesel fuel. The properties change rapidly during storage condition. Its utilization as fuels requires some form of upgrading to improve storage stability and heat value and reduce the water content, viscosity and acidity.

Key words: Pyrolysis; Fluidized bed, Corn stalk; Bio-oil; Flue

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the fluidized bed experimental system

Fig. 2  Product yields of corn stalk at selected pyrolysis temperature