Bio-oil from cassava peel: A potential renewable energy source

In this work, liquid biofuel (bio-oil) was produced by pyrolizing cassava peel. The experiments were conducted isothermally in a fixed-bed tubular reactor at temperatures ranging from 400 to 600 °C with a heating rate of 20 °C/min. The chemical compositions of bio-oil were analyzed by a gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) technique. For the optimization of liquid product, temperature was plotted to be the most decisive factor. The maximum yield of bio-oil ca. 51.2% was obtained at 525 °C and the biofuel has a gross calorific value of 27.43 MJ/kg. The kinetic-based mechanistic model fitted well with experimental yield of pyrolysis products with the mean squared error (MSE) of 13.37 (R2 = 0.96) for solid (char), 16.24 (R2 = 0.95) for liquid (bio-oil), and 0.49 (R2 = 0.99) for gas.

► Cassava peel was utilised as a potential biomass feedstock to produce bio-oil.
► A relatively high yield of bio-oil was obtained through slow pyrolysis at 525 °C.
► The distribution of organic moieties in bio-oil is not dependent on temperature.
► The physicochemical properties of bio-oil satisfied ASTM D7544 requirements.
► The yield of pyrolysis products was predicted by kinetic-based mechanistic model.