Investigation of physicochemical properties of bio-oils produced from pitch pine (Pinus rigida) at various temperatures

Abstract

In this study, fast pyrolysis of pitch pine (Pinus rigida) was performed in a fluidized bed reactor under the temperature ranges between 400 and 550°C at the residence time of 1.9 sec. Essential pyrolytic products (bio-oil, biochar, and gas) were produced and their yield was clearly influenced by temperature. The maximum yield of bio-oil was observed to 64.9 wt% (wet basis) at the temperature of 500°C. As pyrolysis temperature increased, the yield of biochar decreased from 36.8 to 11.1 wt%, while gas amount continuously increased from 16.1 to 33.0 wt%. Water content as well as heating value of bio-oils were obviously sensitive to the pyrolysis temperature. The water contents in the bio-oil clearly decreased from 26.1 (400°C) to 11.9 wt% (550°C), with increasing the fast pyrolysis temperature, while their higher heating values were increased from 16.6 MJ/kg to 19.3 MJ/kg. According to GC/MS analysis, 22 degradation compounds were identified from the bio-oils and 10 compounds were derived from carbohydrate, 12 compounds were derived from lignin.