Thermo-chemical conversion of sawdust through in-situ quenching of pyro-vapor for green fuel

• Study of pyro-vapour quenching with chilled bio-diesel for green fuel.
• Bench-scale pyrolyser delivered blended liquid CV with 39 ± 0.5 MJ/kg.
• HHV of biochar (23.4 ± 0.5) analogous to CV of sub-bituminous coal.

This work is focused on intermediate pyrolysis of sawdust in a 100 g batch reactor at 500 ± 10 °C. The pyrolysis vapors coming from reactor were directly quenched with chilled biodiesel from jatropha oil at 4 ± 2 °C to obtain a suitable blend for stationary engine application. Total bio-oil yield was found to be 37% (wt.). After layer separation from the resultant mixture, biodiesel miscible bio-oil phase calorific value was found to be 39 ± 0.5 MJ/kg, which indicated that the bio-oil/biodiesel mixture was stable within the conditions tested and hence suitable for engine applications. The overall process provides a platform for blended biofuel, biochar as substitute of sub-bituminous coal and pyro-gas for combined heating and power application.