Microwave pyrolysis of straw bale and energy balance analysis

The compressed wheat and corn straw bale were pyrolyzed on a microwave heating device self-designed and built with respect to the time-resolved temperature distribution, mass loss and product properties. Considering scale up and technology promotion of microwave pyrolysis (MWP), the investigations on electricity consumption and energy balance of MWP were carried out emphatically. The results indicated that MWP had obvious advantages over conventional pyrolysis, such as heating rapid and more valuable products obtained. The distribution of pyrolysis products such as gas, liquid and char was close to 1:1:1 due to the medium pyrolysis temperature and the slow heating rate, which was not favorable for the formation of gas and/or liquid products. The content of H2 attained the highest value of 35 vol.% and syngas (H2 and CO) was greater than 50 vol.%. The electricity consumption of MWP was between 0.58 and 0.65 kW h (kg straw)−1 and with the increase of microwave power, the electricity consumption required for pyrolysis of unit mass of straw increased. The minimum microwave power for MWP was about 0.371 kW (kg straw)−1 and the proportion of heat loss and conversion loss of electricity to microwave energy occupied in the total input energy was 42%. Data and information obtained are useful for the design and operation of pyrolysis of large-sized biomass via microwave heating technology.