Bio-oil from Sawdust: Pyrolysis of Sawdust in a Fixed-Bed System

E. Salehi, J. Abedi,* and T. Harding

Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, UniVersity of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
ReceiVed February 5, 2009. ReVised Manuscript ReceiVed June 8, 2009
Sawdust was pyrolyzed in a xed-bed tubular reactor. The roles of the pyrolysis temperature, sweep gas
ow rate, condensation temperature, and heating rate in the yields of the products were investigated. The
obtained char, gas, and bio-oil yields ranged between 20 and 27, 36 and 45, and 33 and 45 wt %, respectively,
at different pyrolysis conditions. According to the results obtained under the conditions of this study, the
effects of the pyrolysis temperature, sweep gas ow rate, and heating rate on the yields are more signicant
than the effect of the condensation temperature. The chemical characteristics of the pyrolysis bio-oil and char
obtained under optimal operational conditions were identied by elemental and caloric analyses. The bio-oil
was analyzed using chromatographic and spectroscopic techniques.
1. Introduction
The importance of renewable energy is ever increasing in
order to satisfy environmental concerns over fossil fuel usage
and its contribution to the greenhouse effect. Wood and other
forms of biomass are some of the main renewable energy
resources available.
1
Biomass for producing energy has a special
place among all other renewable energy sources, and it is
estimated to contribute 10-14% to the worlds total energy
supply.
2-6
In contrast to other renewable sources that give heat and
power, biomass represents the only source of liquid, solid, and
gaseous fuels.
1
Biomass can be used in a variety of ways to
provide energy: biochemical (fermentation and anaerobic diges-
tion) and thermochemical (combustion, gasication, and fast
pyrolysis). Pyrolysis, a promising route for biomass utilization,
has been widely used for converting biomass into fuel gases,
liquids, and solids among the thermochemical methods because
of its unique ability to produce liquid product compared to the
other methods.
Generally, there are two approaches for pyrolysis technology.
One approach, referred to as conventional or traditional py-
rolysis, is to maximize the yield of fuel gas at the preferred
conditions of high temperature, low heating rate, and long gas
resistance time or to enhance the char production at low
temperature and low heating rate. Another approach, known as
ash or fast pyrolysis, is to maximize the yield of liquid product
at the processing conditions of (1) very high heating rate (>1000
C/min) and heat transfer rate, (2) nely ground biomass feed
(<1 mm), (3) carefully controlled temperature (around 500 C),
and (4) rapid cooling of the pyrolysis vapors to give the biocrude
products.
7
Pyrolysis of biomass yields three different phases: (1) a liquid
phase called bio-oil, which is a mixture of different organic
molecules and water, (2) a solid phase called char, and (3)
noncondensable gases.
4
Bio-oil has the advantages of easy storage and transport. It
can be transported cost-effectively to centralized reneries and
can be used as feedstock for the production of Fischer-Tropsch
fuels from syngas, when the liquids are used as the gasier
feedstock.
8
Economically practical plants for fuel synthesis will
have to be of a very large scale (several thousand tons per day
of raw biomass required). This implies large costs associated
with the transportation of large quantities of biomass, an
intrinsically dilute resource. Bio-oil can be considered as a key
intermediate step in the conversion of biomass to hydrogen or
syngas because the volume reduction associated with the
conversion of biomass to bio-oil leads to an enormous decrease
in transportation and storage costs.
29
In addition, bio-oil can be
used as a feedstock in conventional petroleum reneries, as well
as for the production of high-value chemicals.
4
The molecular composition of bio-oil varies signicantly with
the type of biomass and the pyrolysis conditions used. Its major
components are oxygenates belonging to the following groups:
acids, aldehydes, alcohols, ketones, substituted furans derived
from cellulose and hemicellulose, and phenolic and cyclic
oxygenates derived from lignin.
9
Many research studies have examined the most suitable
pyrolysis conditions (e.g., temperature, feed size, sweep gas
velocity, and heating rate) on the production of bio-oil.
1-15
This
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel: 403-220-5594.
E-mail: jabedi@ucalgary.ca.
(1) Ozbay, N.; Putun, A. E.; Putun, E. Int. J. Energy Res. 2006, 30,
501.
(2) Putun, A. E.; Uzun, B. B.; Apaydin, E.; Putun, E. Fuel Process.
Technol. 2005, 87, 25.
(3) Sensoz, S.; Angn, D. Bioresour. Technol. 2008, 99, 5492.
(4) Park, H. J.; Dong, J. I.; Jeon, J. K.; Park, Y. K.; Yoo, K. S.; Kim,
S. S.; Kim, J.; Kim, S. Chem. Eng. J. 2008, 143, 124132.
(5) Chen, G.; Andries, J.; Spliethoff, H. Energ. ConVers. Manage. 2003,
44, 2289.
(6) Krzesinska, M.; Pilawa, M. B.; Pusz, S. Biomass Bioenergy 2006,
30, 166.
(7) Tsai, W. T.; Lee, M. K.; Chang, Y. M. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 2006,
76, 230.
(8) Boateng, A. A.; Daugaard, D. E.; Goldberg, N. M.; Hicks, K. B.
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2007, 46, 1891.
(29) www.dynamotive.com.
(9) Basagiannis, A. C.; Verykios, X. E. Appl. Catal. 2006, 308, 182.
(10) Horne, P. A.; Williams, P. T. Fuel 1996, 75, 1051.
(11) Demirbas, A. Fuel 1997, 76, 431.
(12) Parihar, M. F.; Kamil, M.; Goyal, H. B.; Gupta, A. K.; Bhatnagar,
A. K. Process Saf. EnViron. Prot. 2007, 85, 458.
(13) Sensoz, S.; Demiral, I.; Gercel, H. F. Bioresour. Technol. 2006,
97, 429.
Energy & Fuels 2009, 23, 37673772 3767
10.1021/ef900112b CCC: $40.75 2009 American Chemical Society
Published on Web 06/16/2009
study is the rst part of a larger project aiming at producing
hydrogen from agricultural wastes through bio-oil as an
intermediate. This work investigates the feasibility of pyrolysis
in a xed-bed pyrolyzer, and it is one step prior to developing
a continuous uidized-bed pyrolysis system.
Pyrolysis of sawdust from a waste wood recycling company
in Alberta was examined in this research. The effects of various
reaction conditions, such as the reaction temperature, gas ow
rate, condensation temperature, and heating rate on the product
yields in a batch fast-pyrolysis system were investigated using
a xed-bed reactor, in order to determine the optimal pyrolysis
parameters that produce the maximum bio-oil yield. In addition,
the pyrolysis products, especially bio-oil, obtained at the
conditions of maximum product yields were further analyzed,
using chemical and thermal techniques, to determine the
possibility of being a potential source of renewable fuels.
2. Experimental Section
2.1. Raw Material. The biomass used was a mixture of sawdust
obtained from a waste wood recycling company, thereby represent-
ing a mixture of different wood types. The feedstock was dried in
the laboratory at room temperature, ground in a laboratory mill,
and then sieved into fractions of particle diameter of <590 m.
Before the experiments, the sample to be used was dried overnight
at 100 C in an oven to have moisture less than 10%, in order to
have consistent conditions in every experiment. Table 1 shows the
elemental analyses and the caloric value of the biomass pyrolyzed.
Because of the low sulfur and ash contents in the feedstock, they
were not tabulated. The elemental analysis corresponds to the
average composition CH
1.55
N
0.002
O
0.67
.
2.2. Fixed-Bed Pyrolysis Apparatus. The fast-pyrolysis experi-
ments were performed in a horizontal stainless steel xed-bed
tubular reactor (1.9 cm i.d., 2.2 cm o.d., and 50 cm length) in a
nitrogen atmosphere, externally heated by a 1200 W electrical tube
furnace, which is shown schematically in Figure 1. The volatile
materials produced in the reactor passed through two sequential
condensers chilled to -10 C by a refrigerated circulator (VWR
model 1150S). Pyrolysis liquid (bio-oil) was collected in a bio-oil
collector. Pyrolysis product yields were determined gravimetrically
by weighing the produced bio-oil and char. The residual solid in
the reactor was weighed as char. Because of the small amount of
the biomass sample in each experiment, the gas yield was not
measured but was determined by difference.
2.3. Experimental Procedure. The experiments were carried
out in a series of four to investigate the effect of pyrolysis conditions
on the product yields, in order to achieve the operating conditions
that give the maximum bio-oil yield.
For the rst group of experiments, a 10 g sample of dried
feedstock was placed in the reactor, and nitrogen gas was used as
the sweeping gas with ow rates of 1, 2, 4, and 6 L/min (LPM),
controlled and measured with a rotameter, to determine the effect
of the sweeping gas ow rate. The experiments were carried out to
a nal temperature of 500 C, at a heating rate of 1000 C/min,
and held at that temperature for 20 min or until no further signicant
release of white vapor gas was observed. The condensation
temperature in the condensers was set at -10 C using the
refrigerated circulator.
The second group of experiments was performed to establish
the effect of the heating rate on the pyrolysis yields. These
experiments were conducted with four different heating rates of
100, 500, 700, and 1000 C/min, with a nal temperature of 500
C, a condensation temperature of -10 C, and a sweep gas ow
rate of 2 LPM, which was based on the results of the rst group of
experiments.
The third group of experiments was conducted to determine the
effect of the pyrolysis temperature. These experiments were done
with a condensation temperature of -10 C, a sweep gas ow rate
of 2 LPM, and a heating rate of 1000 C/min, which were based
on the results of the rst two groups of experiments, up to nal
temperatures of 400, 500, 600, and 700 C.
The fourth and last group of experiments were conducted to
investigate the effect of the condensation temperature on the yields
of pyrolysis products. The experiments were performed with three
different condensation temperatures of 0, -10, and -20 C at a
nal pyrolysis temperature of 500 C, a heating rate of 1000 C/
min, and a nitrogen ow rate of 2 LPM, based on the results of the
rst three groups of experiments.
All of the yields expressed were average yields from at least
three experiments.
2.4. Characterization. Elemental analyses by an elemental
analyzer (PerkinElmer model 2400 CHN analyzer) were carried
out on the sawdust (Table 1). Such analyses were also performed
for the bio-oil and char products.
The density of bio-oil was measured with a density measurement
bottle. In order to evaluate the corrosivity of the bio-oil, the pH of
the bio-oil was measured by an Oakton Instruments pH meter. The
water content of bio-oil was determined by applying the Karl-Fisher
titration method using a Mettler Toledo DL32 coulometric titrator.
The viscosity of the bio-oil was determined by using a Brookeld
RV DV-II+ Pro viscometer at 25 C. The gross caloric values of
the bio-oil, char, and sawdust were also determined by using a bomb
calorimeter (Parr model 1266).
Because bio-oil contains hundreds of chemicals, accurate analysis
results of bio-oil are difcult to obtain using the existing gas
chromatography equipment. Therefore, gas chromatography/mass
spectroscopy (GC/MS) analysis was carried out, in order to get an
idea of the nature and types of compounds in the produced bio-oil.
GC/MS analysis was performed with an Agilent HP 6890N gas
chromatograph equipped with an Agilent HP 5975 mass-selective
detector (mass spectrometer), using a 0.25 mm 30 m HP-5MS
capillary column (0.25 m thickness). The following temperature
program was adopted: the initial, intermediate, and nal temper-
atures were 50, 230, and 350 C, respectively, the times at the initial,
intermediate, and nal temperatures were 0, 0, and 5 min,
respectively, and the heating rates were 10 and 15 C/min.
A UNIS PVT inlet was installed on the gas chromatograph. The
following temperature program was adopted: the initial and nal
temperatures were 150 and 380 C, respectively, the times at the
initial and nal temperatures were 1 min and held until the oven
program was done, respectively. The transfer line temperature was
380 C. The oil sample was injected at 5 L with a 50:1 split ratio.
The carrier ow was 1 mL/min of helium (He). The mass
spectrometer was operated in scan mode, and its mass range was
30-800 amu. Interpretation of the mass spectra obtained by GC/
MS was based on an automatic library search (NIST library version
2).
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Effect of the Sweeping Gas Flow Rate on Product
Yields. The role of sweeping gas during pyrolysis is to affect
the residence time of the pyrolytic gas as a result of pyrolysis
reactions by removing the products from the hot zone, in order
(14) Yorgun, S.; Sensoz, S. Biomass Bioenergy 2001, 20, 141.
(15) Ates, F.; Putun, E.; Putun, A. E. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 2004, 71,
779.
Table 1. Main Characteristics of Sawdust
elemental analysis (wt %)
carbon 49.30
hydrogen 6.39
nitrogen 0.12
oxygen
a
44.19
empirical formula CH
1.55
N
0.002
O
0.67
heating value
b
(MJ/kg) 19.05
a
By difference.
b
Using a bomb calorimeter.
3768 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009 Salehi et al.
to minimize secondary reactions, such as thermal cracking,
repolymerization, and recondensation and to maximize the liquid
yield.
2,12
To determine the effect of the sweep gas ow rate, the rst
group of experiments was conducted at four different nitrogen
ow rates. Figure 2 shows the effect of the dinitrogen ow rate
on product yields. From these experiments, it was determined
that the dinitrogen ow rate of 2 LPM is the most suitable rate
to obtain the highest oil yield. When the gas ow rate was
increased from 1 to 2 LPM, the vapor residence time decreased,
which resulted in a higher bio-oil yield.
However, the oil yield decreased as the dinitrogen ow rate
increased from 2 to 6 LPM. The same tendency has been
observed elsewhere.
13,14
The decrease in the oil yield may be
due to the very short residence time of the vapors in the
condenser, and vapors are not able to condense because of the
higher percentage of noncondensable gases.
12
3.2. Effect of the Heating Rate on Product Yields. Figure
3 shows the results obtained when four different heating rates
were applied. It can be considered that the oil yield increased
with an increase in the heating rate. There was a big jump in
the oil yield from a heating rate of 500 to 700 C/min, but there
was no signicant increase from 700 to 1000 C/min. It seems
the oil yield increased because of breaking of the heat- and mass-
transfer limitations by high heating rates.
15
Although the feedstock sample, in every experiment, was
small in comparison to the furnace volume and was placed
exactly in the middle of the furnace, the feedstock particles could
be heated at different rates. Actually, the particles close to the
tubular reactors wall would have a chance to be heated at the
same rate as the furnace heating rate while the particles at the
center of the reactor were heated at a little slower rate. This is
dened as inhomogeneous heating distribution. Therefore, it
seems there was a lag between the heating rate of the feedstock
particles close to the reactors wall and that of the particles at
the center of the reactor.
3.3. Effect of the Pyrolysis Temperature on Product
Yields. Figure 4 shows the product yields for the pyrolysis of
sawdust in relation to the nal temperature of pyrolysis. It can
be seen that the char yield had a declining trend as the nal
pyrolysis temperature increased from 400 to 700 C, which is
in agreement with the literature.
16-20
While the oil yield was
32.85% at the pyrolysis temperature of 400 C, the maximum
yield of 44.4% occurred at a nal temperature of 500 C. Then,
at a nal pyrolysis temperature of 700 C, the oil yield decreased
to 33.85%. This tendency has been observed in others work.
2,4
It is well-known that maximum liquid yields can be obtained
with high heating rates, at a reaction temperature of around 500
C and with short vapor residence times to minimize secondary
(16) Tsai, W. T.; Lee, M. K.; Chang, Y. M. Bioresour. Technol. 2007,
98, 2228.
(17) Putun, A. E.; Ozcan, A.; Putun, E. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 1999,
52, 33.
(18) Onay, O.; Beis, S. H.; Kockar, O. M. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 2001,
58, 995.
(19) Shinogi, Y.; Kanri, Y. Bioresour. Technol. 2003, 90, 241.
(20) Acikgoz, C.; Onay, O.; Kockar, O. M. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis
2004, 71, 417.
Figure 1. Schematic diagram of the xed-bed fast-pyrolysis system: (1) nitrogen gas cylinder; (2) rotameter; (3) tube furnace; (4) tubular reactor;
(5) condensers; (6) (ethylene glycol/water) refrigerated bath circulator; (7) temperature controller; (8) bio-oil collector.
Figure 2. Yields of the resulting products versus the nitrogen ow rate at a heating rate of 1000 C/min, a pyrolysis temperature of 500 C, and
a condensation temperature of -10 C.
Bio-oil from Sawdust Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009 3769
reactions.
21-23
It can be said that relatively low pyrolysis
temperatures of around 400 C favor char formation. Temper-
atures of up to 600 C maximize the production of bio-oil, and
temperatures above 700 C maximize gaseous products while
minimizing char formation. Referring to the literature, pyrolysis
temperatures that have given the highest liquid product yield
for different biomass samples were determined to be between
500 and 550 C.
24-27
The reason for the lower bio-oil yield at
a lower reaction temperature may be due to the fact that the
reaction temperature was not high enough for complete fast
pyrolysis.
4
On the other hand, the reason why liquid product
yields decreased at higher pyrolysis temperature may be
decomposition of the organic and specic product and secondary
volatiles at temperatures above 500 C.
3.4. Effect of the Condensation Temperature on Product
Yields. The experiments were performed with three different
condensation temperatures of 0, -10, and -20 C. The results
determined that a condensation temperature smaller than -10
C had no signicant effect on the yield of pyrolysis oil. Figure
5 shows the product yields in relation to the condensation
temperature. Discussions of the effect of the condensation
temperature on the yields of pyrolysis products are very scarce
in the literature.
4. Product Analysis
The liquids obtained in the fast pyrolysis of biomass, which
are usually termed bio-oils, are red-brown-colored products with
an irritating odor.
21
At the end of each experiment, the bio-oil
was collected in a bio-oil collector (Figure 1). Acetone was used
(21) Bridgwater, A. V.; Meier, D.; Radlein, D. Org. Geochem. 1999,
30, 1479.
(22) Bridgwater, A. V.; Peacock, G. V. C. Renewable Sustainable Energy
ReV. 2000, 4, 1.
(23) Bridgwater, A. V. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 1999, 51, 3.
(24) Williams, P. T.; Besler, S. Fuel 1993, 72, 151.
(25) Encinar, J. M.; Gonzalez, J. F.; Gonzalez, J. Fuel Process. Technol.
2000, 68, 209.
(26) O

zbay, N.; Put

un, A. E.; Uzun, B. B.; Putun, E. Renewable Energy

2001, 24, 615.
(27) Zabaniotou, A. A.; Kalogiannis, G.; Kappas, E.; Karabelas, A. J.
Biomass Bioenergy 2000, 18, 411.
Figure 3. Yields of the resulting products versus the heating rate at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 C, a nitrogen ow rate of 2 LPM, and a
condensation temperature of -10 C.
Figure 4. Yields of the resulting products versus the pyrolysis temperature at a heating rate of 1000 C/min, a nitrogen ow rate of 2 LPM, and
a condensation temperature of -10 C.
3770 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009 Salehi et al.
to wash the condensers walls. The amount of trapped bio-oil
was determined after solvent evaporation. The total liquid
product from biomass pyrolysis was dened as the sum of bio-
oil collected at both of the mentioned points of the unit in the
bio-oil collector and at the condensers walls.
The bio-oil and char products analyzed in this study were
obtained under experimental conditions that gave the maximum
oil yield. The elemental composition and heating value of the
bio-oil and char are given in Table 2, which also presents the
density, viscosity, pH value, and water content of the bio-oil.
Produced bio-oil contains a large amount of water (39%),
resulting in a low heating value for the bio-oil as presented in
Table 2. An even larger amount of water content has been
reported.
1
It has been found that the oxygen content causes bio-
oils to have high polarity and, therefore, the propensity to hold
considerable amounts of water in solution.
8
It can be seen that the caloric value of the bio-oil was not
as high as those of commercial heating oils, which are 25-40
MJ/kg. However, the caloric value of the pyrolysis char was
rather high, even higher than that of the sawdust, as listed in
Table 1. These results are similar to the typical values reported
in the literature. Regarding the higher heating value of pyrolysis
char, it seemed that considerable amounts of carbon organized
in the combustible matters of sawdust were still present in the
char and not decomposed to produce condensable components
in the fast-pyrolysis system.
16
In the authors opinion, this is
because of the lack of a homogeneous heating distribution in
the xed-bed pyrolysis systems, as was discussed in section 3.2.
More than 100 peaks were displayed in the GC/MS chro-
matograms. The perfect separation of all of the peaks was not
possible because of the complex composition of the pyrolysis
vapors. Only separated products that occurred in considerable
amounts were identied. There are 10 kinds of components
identied. The information in Table 3 indicates that bio-oil is a
complex mixture of organic compounds and contains a wide
variety of aromatics and oxygenated compounds, such as
carboxylic acids, phenols, and aldehydes. Organic acids like
formic acid and acetic acid are the reason why the pH of the
bio-oil is less than 3.0.
28
The compound 2-methoxyphenol is a
common substructure in lignin and has been introduced as a
common compound in bio-oil numerous times. Also, the
presence of these aromatic and oxygenated compounds is
attributable to biomasss biopolymer textures, such as cellulose
and hemicellulose.
16
Further studies on GC/MS analyses of the resulting pyrolysis
oils and gases would be helpful to elucidate the inuence of
pyrolysis parameters on the chemical compositions of pyrolysis
products.
5. Conclusion
In this study, fast-pyrolysis experiments of sawdust were
carried out in a xed-bed tubular reactor. The optimal yield
(28) Ji-lu, Z. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 2007, 80, 30.
Figure 5. Yields of the resulting products versus the condensation temperature at a heating rate of 1000 C/min, a nitrogen ow rate of 2 LPM, and
a pyrolysis temperature of 500 C.
Table 2. Characteristics of Products
properties bio-oil char
elemental analysis (wt %)
a
carbon 30.72 83.11
hydrogen 6.67 3.69
nitrogen 1.07 0.18
oxygen
b
61.54 13.02
heating value
c
(MJ/kg) 10.93 30.77
water content (wt %) 39.00
pH 1.85
density (kg/m
3
) 1050.00
viscosity (Pa s) at 25 C 0.00984
a
Elemental composition in the combustible matter, on a dry basis.
b
By difference.
c
Using a bomb calorimeter.
Table 3. Main Compounds Identied in Bio-oil Obtained
through Optimal Operation Conditions
no. compound
1 formic acid
2 acetic acid
3 1-hydroxy-2-propanone
4 3-furaldehyde
5 2-methoxyphenol
6 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol
7 3-hydroxy-4-methoxybenzaldehyde
8 1-(3-hydroxy-4-methoxyphenyl)ethanone
9 4-hydroxy-2-methoxycinnamaldehyde
10 2-methoxy-3-(2-propenyl)phenol
Bio-oil from Sawdust Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009 3771
(45%) of pyrolysis oil was achieved at a pyrolysis temperature
of 500 C, a heating rate of 1000 C/min, a nitrogen ow rate
of 2 LPM, and a condensation temperature of -10 C. The
present results showed that the reaction temperature, heating
rate, and gas ow rate had signicant effects on the yields of
the oils, char, and gas, resulting from pyrolysis of sawdust. The
condensation temperature, however, did not have an important
effect on the product yield.
From the experiments, it became apparent that the quenching
system needs to be improved. It was observed that when the
sweeping gas ow rate was increased from 2 to 6 LPM, the
bio-oil yield decreased, which is attributed to a very short
residence time of the vapors in the condenser.
Products including oil and/or char were analyzed by an
elemental analyzer, a pH meter, GC/MS, and a bomb calorim-
eter. It was conrmed that the pyrolysis oil contains complex
compounds, mostly composed of aromatic and carbonyl struc-
tures, resulting in low pH and heating values.
It is recommended that future tests be performed under fast-
pyrolysis conditions in a uidized-bed system because the xed-
bed tests resulted in a lower heating value bio-oil and a higher
heating value char and moderate bio-oil yields of 45% compared
to yields of 70% in the literature. This is most likely due to the
lack of a homogeneous heating distribution in the xed-bed
system. In the xed-bed system, all particles in the reactor are
not heated at the same heating rate; the particles close to the
reactors wall heated faster than the particles at the center of
the reactor.
Changing the pyrolyzer from a xed-bed system to a
uidized-bed system gives the chance for all feedstock particles
to be heated up faster and more homogeneously by providing
a direct contact between the feedstock particles and the hot sand
bed inside the uidized-bed pyrolyzer. Also, when the vapor
residence time was minimized in a uidized-bed system, the
secondary reactions, which result in a higher gas yield, are
limited and the bio-oil yield will have a greater contribution. A
continuous uidized-bed pyrolyzer has been developed as the
next step in our groups test plan.
Acknowledgment. The nancial support of the Alberta Agri-
cultural Research Institute is acknowledged. The feedstock was
provided by ECCO CHIPS Co. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
EF900112B
3772 Energy & Fuels, Vol. 23, 2009 Salehi et al.