Effects of Pretreatments on Yields, Selectivity and Properties of Products from Pyrolysis of Phragmites australis (Common Reeds)

Phragmites australis (PHA) is a grass-type biomass, commonly known as reed grass, which has the potential to be a valuable energy and chemical feedstock due to its high yield (4.5–7 kg biomass m−2 year−1). It is demonstrated that the physicochemical properties and composition of phragmites can be al...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environments (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2017-12, Vol.4 (4), p.96
Main Authors: Garrido, Rene, Reckamp, Joseph, Satrio, Justinus
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
acid hydrolysis
Acids
Aldehydes
Alternative energy sources
Aquatic plants
bio-oil
biochar
Biomass
Cellulose
Charcoal
Chemical compounds
common reed
Decomposition
Drying
fast pyrolysis
Gases
Grasses
Hydrolysis
Ketones
Lignin
Lignocellulose
Molecular weight
Organic chemistry
Phosphorus
Phragmites australis
Physicochemical properties
Pretreatment
Pyrolysis
Raw materials
Reeds
Selectivity
Soil amendment
Studies
Synthesis gas
torrefaction
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Summary:Phragmites australis (PHA) is a grass-type biomass, commonly known as reed grass, which has the potential to be a valuable energy and chemical feedstock due to its high yield (4.5–7 kg biomass m−2 year−1). It is demonstrated that the physicochemical properties and composition of phragmites can be altered by subjecting the feedstock to a combined acid hydrolysis at various level of acid concentrations and torrefaction pre-treatment processes. In this paper, we conducted fast pyrolysis on pretreated PHA, resulting in bio-oil with significantly higher selectivity towards levoglucosenone and appreciably reduced amounts of ketones and aldehydes being produced. The experiments demonstrated that 4% H3PO4 acid hydrolysis and 220 °C torrefaction combined pretreatments prior to fast pyrolysis resulted in 17 times increase of relative selectivity to levoglucosenone in the bio-oil portion along with a reduction of ketones and aldehydes relative concentrations from 23% to 13%. Pyrolysis of pretreated PHA produced higher amount of biochar. The phosphorus-enriched biochar offers a potential usage for soil amendment or sorbent material. This study presents an opportunity to convert this underutilized feedstock into valuable bio-based products. Additional in-depth investigation is essential to gather more data for assessing the economic and sustainability features of the proposed process.
ISSN:2076-3298
2076-3298
DOI:10.3390/environments4040096