Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
8879578 | Industrial Crops and Products | 2018 | 6 Pages |
Abstract
Pyrolysis is a simple, inexpensive and arguably safer method to recover high-value products from plants relative to solvent extraction processes. In order to optimize pyrolysis conditions to improve the separation of selected compounds, a novel reactor-condenser chain process was developed to isolate nicotine from tobacco leaf. Ground tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) leaf (<1âmm) was pyrolyzed at 10â°C/min from ambient to 275â°C using a two-dimensional (2-D) mechanically fluidized reactor (MFR). The gases formed in the reactor would either condense in the hot (180, 190, 200 or 240â°C) or the cold (4â°C) condenser based on the boiling point of the chemicals in the vapors produced. The 2-D MFR operating conditions were optimized by a two-step process: (1) vapors were generated between ambient to 275â°C and the hot condenser temperature was varied to determine which yielded the highest nicotine concentration and recovery; and (2) the hot condenser temperature was kept constant while the best reactor temperature cut was determined. Nicotine recovery was optimal with a condenser temperature of 190â°C. A 25% nicotine concentration in the bio-oil was obtained with a nicotine recovery of 92% as the reactor temperature was increased from ambient to 275â°C. Narrowing the reactor temperature range between 260 and 275â°C maximized the nicotine concentration, as the bio-oil had a 56% nicotine concentration, with a nicotine recovery of 21%. The 2-D pyrolysis process represents a significant improvement over solvent extraction and is potentially applicable for valuable chemical recovery from biomass.
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Agronomy and Crop Science
Authors
Mohammad M. Hossain, Ian M. Scott, Franco Berruti, Cedric Briens,