Production of Bio-fuel & Bio-char from Sugarcane Bagasse by Thermal Pyrolysis

Abstract

Bio-fuel & bio-char from sugarcane bagasse thermal pyrolysis has the potential to replace the fossil fuel derived energy sources. The various process of conversion although has been put into view like gasification, Torre-faction & Pyrolysis, the pyrolysis has gained a lot of importance because of its viability as compared to other processes discussed above. The conversion of the bio-mass by pyrolysis was conducted at various pyrolytic temperatures starting from (300-5000C) at a heating rate of 250C/min and the optimum temperature was found at 4500C which was found to be 53.3% of bio-oil. The liquid product i.e., the bio-oil was analyzed by various characterization techniques like CHNS, 1H-NMR, physical properties, GC-MS etc. The properties of the bio-oil were found suitable for being used as a fuel. The effect of temperature on the yield of bio-oil, bio-char, bio-gas & reaction time were studied & plotted which showed that the bio-char yield decreased with increase of the pyrolytic temperature. The potential of the bio-char produced from biomass was analyzed by proximate, ultimate, BET surface area, SEM-EDX, anion chromatography, pH, Electrical Conductivity& Zeta Potential studies. The carbon percentage was high enough to be used as a soil amendment, the surface areas were also found to be more with low surface area as 132m2/gm for 3000C bio-char to 510 m2/gm for highest temperature bio-char. This high surface area attributed towards application of the bio-char in soil amendment purpose. The ion-chromatography results also showed the presence of anions that are required as nutrients for plants for their metabolic activities. It will also serve as a good source of plant nutrients since it contains less toxic elements. The bio-char had a slightly acidic surface as found from the pH study. Thus from the above studies we found that the bio-fuel and the bio-char can serve as a source of energy as well as chemical feedstock for the future to depend on.