Effects of hydrothermal treatment on the pyrolysis behavior of Chinese fan palm

- Hydrothermal treatment increased the relative contents of hydrocarbons and sugars.
- At 210 °C had the most remarkable promotion effect on the formation of sugars.
- The effects of pyrolysis temperature on different groups of chemicals were detected.
- Optimal reaction condition of main groups of chemicals were studied.

The effect of hydrothermal treatment (HTT) on Chinese fan palm pyrolysis was investigated. It indicated that HTT could effectively remove a large portion of alkali/alkaline earth metals and disrupt the chemical structure to a certain extent. HTT delayed the initial decomposition temperature but accelerated the pyrolysis process completely. HTT also increased the relative contents of both sugars and hydrocarbons in pyrolysis. At 210 °C, HTT had the most significant promotion effect on the sugars formation with the relative content of 30.58%. While, The relative content of phenols, acids, furans, aldehydes, esters and CO2 decreased more or less after HTT. With increasing pyrolysis temperature, the relative content of most groups of chemicals except hydrocarbons decreased. Response contours were analyzed to find the optimal reaction conditions for generating acids, phenols, sugars and hydrocarbons, respectively. The results indicated both pyrolysis temperature and HTT temperature had distinct influence on relative contents of products.

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