Abstract—Thermochemical conversion processes can transform biomass in solid, liquid and gaseous fuels. Among these processes, pyrolysis allows a pyroligneous condensate, similar to fuel oil, called bio-oil. This research focused on conventional pyrolysis of Paraguayan coconut core, in order to determine the effects of temperature and particle size on the bio-oil yield; as well as to obtain physico-chemical properties of the biofuel under the selected operating conditions. Uncondensed gases generated during pyrolysis were analyzed as well as the bio-oil stability in a two month period at 40 °C. The experiments were carried out using an electric oven, a fixed bed reactor and a vertical concentric condenser. The analysis of variance indicated that both factors have a significant influence on performance, and also indicates interactions between them. The liquid properties included water content of 53% w/w, pH 2.41, kinematic viscosity of 1.51 cSt, specific gravity of 1.0739 and higher calorific value between 14.75 MJ/kg to 10.88 MJ/kg. Uncondensed gases were composed mainly of CO and CO2 with small amounts of CH4 and C3H8, which were generated, up to 45 minutes after reaching pyrolysis temperature. Finally, stability tests indicated that bio-oil obtained is stable until the fourth day of storage at 40 °C.
Index Terms—Chemical properties, fixed bed reactor, heating rate, stability.
Shirley J. Duarte and Jorge Lin are with the National University of Asuncion, Faculty of Chemical Sciences, Department of Industrial Applications, Paraguay (e-mail: sjoamduart@gmail.com, linyangjorge@hotmail.com).
Dario Alviso and Juan C. Rolón are with the National University of Asuncion, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Mechanical and Energy, Paraguay (e-mail: beto.alviso@gmail.com; jcrolon@ing.una.py).
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Cite: Shirley J. Duarte, Jorge Lin, Dario Alviso, and Juan C. Rolón, "Effect of Temperature and Particle Size on the Yield of Bio-oil, Produced from Conventional Coconut Core Pyrolysis," International Journal of Chemical Engineering and Applications vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 102-108, 2016.
