Preliminary Study on the Thermal Behavior and Chemical-Physical Characteristics of Woody Biomass as Solid Biofuels

Abstract

The chemical composition of woody biomass directly influences its thermal degradation and, subsequently, the selection of processes and technologies used for its conversion into energy or value-added products. Thus, the present study aimed to evaluate the thermal behavior and chemical-physical characteristics of three different woody biomass species (hardwood, softwood and chemically-treated wood) using thermogravimetric and characterization analysis based on ISO 16948, ISO 18125 and ISO 18122 methods. The main findings show that the most significant trend of mass loss, around 70%, in the thermal degradation of the different species of woody biomass occurred between 150 °C and 500 °C and that the residual mass at 650 °C was between 13% and 24%. Although the three species of woody biomass showed a high average energy content (19.60 MJ/kg), softwood samples had a more stable thermal degradation than hardwoods and chemically-treated woods.