Study on Evaporation Characteristics of Bio-oil and its Compound Models

Abstract

In this study, bio-oil was analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and the evaporation characteristics of bio-oil were studied at different heating rates (10, 20, and 30 °C/min) from 35 °C to 250 °C by a thermal analyzer (TG-DSC). The TG-DSC results of bio-oil showed that the heat requirement of bio-oil during the evaporation process ranged from 2.072x103 to 2.299x103 J/g, and the bio-oil activation energy ranged from 1.22*104 to 3.34*104 j/mol. Moreover, four models with five compounds (methanol, water, ethanol, furfural, and phenol) were established to study the bio-oil evaporation process. By comparing the TG-DSC results of bio-oil and its models at 30 °C/min, it was shown that the optimal model was model 2, which has the following chemical composition: methanol (27.10 wt.%), water (44.96 wt.%), ethanol (16.24 wt.%), furfural (4.40 wt.%), and phenol (7.30 wt.%). Model 2 exhibited a minimal relative error in dynamic parameters and characteristic curve parameters. The errors for activation energy of the TG, activation energy of the DSC, maximum endothermic rates, and the total of the heat absorption were 3.04%, 5.88%, 2.49%, and 1.06%, respectively.