Pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse in semi batch reactor: Effects of process parameters on product yields and characterization of products

In this work, pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse was conducted in a semi batch reactor. Pyrolysis experiments were carried out to study the effect of temperature (350-650 °C), heating rate (10 and 50 °C/min), biomass particle size (< 0.25 to 1.7 mm) and nitrogen flow rate (50-200 cm3/min) on the pyrolysis product yields. The maximum bio-oil yield of 45.23 wt% was obtained at temperature of 500 °C, heating rate of 50 °C/min, particle size of 0.5 to 0.6 mm and nitrogen flow rate of 100 cm3/min. The characterization of pyrolysis products (bio-oil, bio-char) have been made through different instrumental methods like Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis. Bio-oil is found to have H/C molar ratio of 1.27, empirical formula of CH1.27O0.30N0.004 and heating value of 27.75 MJ/kg. It is dark brownish color acidic liquid with complex mixture of chemical compounds including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, furfural, furan, phenols and some aromatics. The results show that the bio-oil can be potentially valuable as a renewable fuel after upgrading and can be used as a chemical feedstock. The properties of bio-char reveal that it can be used as solid fuels, as a cheap adsorbent, as feedstock for activated carbon production and for agricultural application.