Effects of Biomass Feedstocks and Gasification Conditions on the Physiochemical Properties of Char

Energies

Kezhen Qian¹  Ajay Kumar¹  Krushna Patil¹  Danielle Bellmer¹  Donghai Wang³  Wenqiao Yuan² 

[1] Department of Biosystems and Agricultural Department, and the Biobased Products and Energy Center, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA; E-Mails:;Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695, USA; E-Mail:;Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506, USA; E-Mail:

关键词: biomass char;    biochar;    gasification;    fluidized bed;    switchgrass;    sorghum;    eastern red cedar;   

DOI  :  10.3390/en6083972

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Char is a low-value byproduct of biomass gasification and pyrolysis with many potential applications, such as soil amendment and the synthesis of activated carbon and carbon-based catalysts. Considering these high-value applications, char could provide economic benefits to a biorefinery utilizing gasification or pyrolysis technologies. However, the properties of char depend heavily on biomass feedstock, gasifier design and operating conditions. This paper reports the effects of biomass type (switchgrass, sorghum straw and red cedar) and equivalence ratio (0.20, 0.25 and 0.28), i.e., the ratio of air supply relative to the air that is required for stoichiometric combustion of biomass, on the physiochemical properties of char derived from gasification. Results show that the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface areas of most of the char were 1–10 m²/g and increased as the equivalence ratio increased. Char moisture and fixed carbon contents decreased while ash content increased as equivalence ratio increased. The corresponding Fourier Transform Infrared spectra showed that the surface functional groups of char differed between biomass types but remained similar with change in equivalence ratio.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.