The influence of fast pyrolysis condition on biocrude-oil yield and homogeneity

The characteristics of biocrude-oil yield and quality have been investigated by changing fast pyrolysis condition for woody biomass. For the fast pyrolysis of woody biomass, a bubbling fluidized bed reactor having cylindrical shape was devised and a commonly used spiral quenching system was applied to the condensation of volatile gases from the reactor. Biomass feeding rate, nitrogen flow rate, pyrolysis temperature and particle size of woody biomass were changed to study the characteristics of volatile generation, its condensation and the homogeneity of the condensed biocrude-oil. In particular, the microscopic visualization of the collected biocrude-oil and its evaluation method by image processing technique were made for quantifying the homogeneity of the oil. From the results, the effects of heating and fluidization condition on the biocrude-oil yield and the homogeneity were fully scrutinized in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor. Also, the physical and chemical characteristics of the collected biocrude-oil were determined through various analysis techniques.