Biomass pyrolysis for nitrogen-containing liquid chemicals and nitrogen-doped carbon materials

•N-containing chemicals and N-doped bio-char are co-generated.•A large amount of N contained species was formed with NH3 introduced in.•The specific capacitance of bio-char electrodes increased greatly to 187 F g−1.•Gas product is enriched of H2 (>50 vol.%) with LHV of ∼13 MJ Nm−3.•It is a promising method for high-valued utilization of biomass.

A novel biomass pyrolysis technique was proposed that introduced exogenous nitrogen for the production of nitrogen-containing chemicals and nitrogen-doped bio-char materials. The influence of NH3 and KOH addition on bamboo pyrolysis was investigated using micro-gas chromatography, gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy, accelerated surface area and porosimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis. The introduction of NH3 slightly increased bio-oil yield and the production of nitrogen-containing species at the expense of phenols and aromatics. Specific surface area, overall nitrogen content and the number of nitrogen-containing functional groups of the solid bio-char also increased significantly, while H2 content of the evolved gas spiked significantly. Meanwhile, the addition of KOH increased bio-char yield with an increased in specific surface area up to 1873 m2 g−1. Furthermore, the specific capacitance of the bio-char electrodes reached to 187 F g−1, indicating excellent capacitive performance. Results showed biomass nitrogen-enriched pyrolysis was a promising method for more efficient utilization of biomass resources.