Fast Pyrolysis of biomass for biofuel production

This project was about the research work I have done during my master’s course. It was my first involvement with biofuel production where the feedstocks were food waste, industrial waste, and energy crops. The first study focused on liquefaction of coffee residue (coffee ground) by thermochemical conversion technique known as fast pyrolysis where the feedstocks are decomposed by high temperature in an inert environment. Coffee grounds were chosen due to the growth of coffee consumption and their high energy content. For the first time, my research team has utilized a special pyrolysis reactor called tilted slide reactor for coffee residue liquefaction. The produced biocrude has 60% higher energy content than woody biomass derived oil though the viscosity of the oil was quite high. We mixed ethanol with coffee ground derived oil to achieve stability. My role in this project was to assist my team to operate the enormous pyrolysis reactor plant(17.7kg/h coffee ground feeding rate!),characterizing the bio oil, conducting stability test by mixing methanol. The next study of this project was about the fast pyrolysis of industrial palm oil process residue named palm kernel shell. The palm kernel shell study was actually my master thesis where I grounded palm kernel shell in different particle size and then pyrolyzed at different reaction temperatures to evaluate the effect of particle size and reaction temperature. My contribution to the study was at maximum level but the research article was written in Korean language by my colleagues.

During my Internship in KIMM , I have liquefied a new genotype of energy crop named Miscanthus sacchariflorus Geodae-Uksae 1, by fast pyrolysis technique at different reaction temperature and compared the results with woody biomass derived biocrude. The economic advantage of this study was the feedstock drying process as the energy crop was collected after naturally dried in autumn. I have conducted all the pyrolysis experiments with bubbling fluidized pyrolysis reactors, characterized the produced biocrudes and reported to my master course advisor who ultimately wrote the research article.

Please check publications from this project :

- Fast pyrolysis of coffee ground in a tilted‐slide reactor and characteristics of biocrude oil, Journal: Environment, Development and Sustainability,Volume 36,Issue 3,Pages 655-661 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.12585

- Bio-crude oil production from a new genotype of Miscanthus sacchariflorus Geodae-Uksae 1,Journal: Renewable Energy, Volume 144, December 2019, Pages 153-158
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2018.07.043

- Production of Bio-crude Oil from Palm Kernel Shell by Pyrolysis with Bubbling Fluidized Bed Reactor and the Characteristics of the Biocrude-oil,Journal of Korea Society of Waste Management, Volume 34,December 2017,Pages 853-860 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.9786/kswm.2017.34.8.853