Fast pyrolysis of chestnut cupulae: Yields and characterization of the bio-oil

Abstract

Chestnut cupulae pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a fixed-bed reactor in an attempt to determine the effects of pyrolysis temperature, particle size and sweeping gas (N2) flow rate on the product yields. The maximum bio-oil yield of 52.50 wt% was obtained from chestnut cupulae in N2 atmosphere at a pyrolysis temperature of 600 C, sweeping gas-flow rate of 100 cm3. min-1 and particle size of Dp ≠250 mm. The pyrolysis oils were collected in a cold trap maintained liquid nitrogen and characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, 1HNMR and GC. Chromatographic and spectroscopic studies on bio-oil have shown that chestnut cupulae can be used as a fuel and chemical feedstock.