Pyrolysis characteristics and gasification of pine and oak trees in a fluidized bed reactor

Renewable biomass feedstocks can be potentially used for fuels and chemical production. Current thermal processing techniques such as fast pyrolysis, slow pyrolysis, and gasification tend to generate products with a large slate of compounds. Lignocellulose feedstocks such as forest residues are promising for the production of bio-oil and syn-gas. In Korea, pine trees (pinus densiflora and pinus rigida) and oak trees (oriental oak and Mongolian oak) occupy over 50% in forest. In the case of pine tree, pine wilt disease has frequently taken place in pine trees by Japanese pine sawyer since 1989. Pyrolysis and gasification was investigated using thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) and bubbling fluidized bed gasification reactor to utilize forest woody biomass. Most of the materials decomposed between 320 âÂ, and 380 âÂ, at heating rates of 5-20 âÂ,Â/min in thermogravimetric analysis. Bubbling fluidized bed reactor were use to study gasification characteristics, and the effects of reaction temperature, residence time and feedstocks on gas yields and selectivities were investigated. With increasing temperature from 750 âÂ, to 850 âÂ,Â, the yield of char decreased, whereas the yield of gas increased. The gaseous products consisted of mostly CO, CO₂, H₂ and a small fraction of C₁-C₄ hydrocarbons.