Elucidating the solid, liquid and gaseous products from batch pyrolysis of cotton-gin trash.

• Main Author: Aquino, Froilan Ludana
• Other Authors: Capareda, Sergio C.
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: pyrolysis; cotton-gin trash; bio-oil; char; syn-gas; tar
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2425; http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2425

Cotton-gin trash (CGT) was pyrolyzed at different temperatures and reaction times using an externally-heated batch reactor. The average yields of output products (solid/char, liquid/bio-oil, and gaseous) were determined. The heating value (HV) of CGT was measured to be around 15-16 MJ kg- 1 (6500-7000 Btu lb-1). In the first set of tests, CGT was pyrolyzed at 600, 700, and 800°C and at 30, 45, and 60 min reaction period. The maximum char yield of 40% by weight (wt.%) was determined at 600°C and 30 min settings, however, the HV of char was low and almost similar to the HV of CGT. A maximum gas yield of 40 wt.% was measured at 800°C and 60 min and the highest liquid yield of 30 wt.% was determined at 800°C and 30 min. In the modified pyrolysis test, the effects of temperature (500, 600, 700, and 800°C) on the product yield and other properties were investigated. The experiment was performed using the same reactor purged with nitrogen at a rate of 1000 cm3 min-1. Gas yield increased as temperature was increased while the effect was opposite on char yield. The maximum char yield of 38 wt.% was determined at 500°C and 30 min. The char had the largest fraction in the energy output (70-83%) followed by gas (10-20%) and bio-oil (7- 9%). Maximum gas yield of 35 wt.% was determined at 800°C. The average yield of CO, H2 and total hydrocarbons (THC) generally increased with increased temperature but CO2 production decreased. Methane, ethane, and propane dominated the THC. The bio-oil yield at 600°C was the highest at about 30 wt.% among the temperature settings. The HV of bio-oil was low (2-5 MJ kg-1) due to minimal non-HC compounds and high moisture content (MC). A simple energy balance of the process was performed. The process was considered energy intensive due to the high amount of energy input (6100 kJ) while generating a maximum energy output of only 10%. After disregarding the energy used for preparation and pyrolysis, the energy losses ranged from 30-46% while the energy of the output represent between 55-70% of the input energy from CGT.