Fast pyrolysis of pitch pine biomass in a bubbling fluidized-bed reactor for bio-oil production

Abstract The kinetic parameters for the pyrolysis of biomass of the pitch pine (Rigida pine P. Mill) were examined by thermogravimetric analysis in the temperature range 25 °C to 700 °C, in which the main decomposition was occurred from 250 °C to 400 °C. Pyrolysis of pitch pine has been investigated in a bubbling fluidized bed reactor. In this system, silica sand and nitrogen were used as the fluidizing bed material and fluidizing medium, respectively. The experimental was systemically performed on different temperature, fluidized velocity, and particle size of biomass. The optimum temperature condition at which the bio-oil yields reached the highest value (65.5%) was 500 °C. In addition, the higher heating values of bio-oils from pitch pine biomass were reached in the range 22 MJ/kg to 24 MJ/kg. Moreover, this bio-oil had high content of useful chemicals including such as levoglucosan, furfural, and guaiacol. The large amount of C5–C11 (gasoline fraction) produced make the pyrolyzed oil originating from pitch pine trees a promising biofuel candidate.