Chemical composition of pyrolysis oil through thermal decomposition of sugarcane biomass

Abstract

The process of thermal decomposition of sugarcane biomass consists of 4 stages. On that basis, the research conducted the pyrolysis of sugarcane biomass to collect liquid products at different temperature stages and they were analyzed by GC-MS method to determine the chemical composition. Chemical composition of pyrolysis oil through thermal decomposition of sugarcane biomass was elucidated in this paper. It can be divided into 6 main groups, including: acids/esters, alcohols, aldehydes/ketones, furanic compounds (furans), phenolic compounds (phenols) and fragments of lignin containing methoxy groups (guaiacols). Acids are obtained mainly at 170 oC, followed by ketones and aldehydes, furans and alcohols, without phenols and guaiacols. At 318 oC, the content of acids decreases, the content of furans, phenols and guaiacols increase, the content of alcohols varies not much and this product segment doesn't contain aldehydes and ketones. The composition of the resulting liquid product varies significantly from 318 to 400 oC with the phenols and guaiacols content account for the majority in liquid products, the rest are furans, alcohols, acids, ketones and aldehydes. The content of phenols and guaiacols in liquid products still accounts for the majority at the temperature stage of 400-500 oC and 500-600 oC while the furans content decreases compared to the previous temperature segments. The ring 6 edges compounds of phenols and guaiacols still account for the majority, followed by ring 5 edges compounds of furans, acids, ketones/aldehydes and alcohols in the product mixture of sugarcane pyrolysis at 600 oC.