A comparative investigation into the formation behaviors of char, liquids and gases during pyrolysis of pinewood and lignocellulosic components

• Lignin accelerated the decomposition of cellulose.
• Complex componential interactions occurred during pine wood pyrolysis.
• Pine wood-derived char was more inhomogeneous in the constituents.
• Pine wood produced more bio-oil than xylan, cellulose and ADF.
• ADF- and pine wood-derived bio-oils were less oxygenated.

The pyrolysis characteristics of xylan, cellulose, ADF (a mixture of cellulose and lignin extracted from pine wood) and pine wood were investigated in a fixed-bed reactor by determining the distributions of three-phase products, the elemental compositions of char products, the conversions of components and the profiles of gas release rate during pyrolysis as well as the compositions of liquid products. Interactions were found to occur between the different components. Lignin accelerated the release of CO2 and CO from cellulose and intensified the decomposition of cellulose to smaller molecular weight liquid compounds. Pine wood exhibited the componential interactions, resulting in the broadened temperature range of mass loss, the enhanced yield of char, and the increased heterogeneity of char. Pine wood produced more bio-oil than each component sample, with the compositional formula of CH1.07O0.31. The formation of liquid compounds from pine wood was also observed to be influenced by the componential interactions.