Research on combustion characteristics of bio-oil from sewage sludge

Abstract

Combustion characteristics of bio-oil from sewage sludge were investigated using thermogravimetry (TG) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FT-IR) techniques. The combustion process could be divided into two weight loss stages. Light compounds volatilized and were oxidized in the first stage and the heterogeneous combustion between oxygen and heavy compounds happened in the second stage, which were confirmed by FT-IR technique. Most weight loss occurred in the first stage. The effect of heating rate was also studied and higher heating rates were found to facilitate the combustion process. The kinetic parameters of the two stages were calculated and the change of activation energy indicated higher heating rates benefited combustion.

Keywords

bio-oil from sewage sludge / fast pyrolysis / combustion characteristics / TG-FT-IR / kinetic

References

[1] Domínguez A, Menéndez J A, Inguanzo M, Piz J J. Production of bio-fuels by high temperature pyrolysis of sewage sludge using conventional and microwave heating. Bioresource Technology, 2006, 97(10): 1185-1193

[2] Karayildirim T, Yanik J, Yuksel M, Bockhorn H. Characterisation of products from pyrolysis of waste sludges. Fuel,β2006, 85(10-11): 1498-1508

[3] Chiaramonti D, Oasmaa A, Solantausta Y. Power generation using fast pyrolysis liquids from biomass. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2007, 11(6): 1056-1086

[4] Chen M Q, Wang J, Wang X Y, Zhang X C, Zhang S P, Ren Z W, Yan Y J. Fast pyrolysis of biomass in a spout-fluidized bed reactor-analysis of composition and combustion characteristics of liquid product from biomass. The Chinese Journal of Process Engineering, 2006, 6(2): 192-196

[5] Brammer J G, M LauerA V. Bridgwater. Opportunities for biomass-derived “bio-oil” in European heat and power markets. Energy Policy, 2006, 34(17): 2871-2880

[6] Zhang Q, Chang J, Wang T J, Xu Y. Review of biomass pyrolysis oil properties and upgrading research. Energy Conversion and Management, 2007, 48(1): 87-92

[7] Arcoumanis C, Bae C, Crookes R, Kinoshita E. The potential of di-methyl ether as an alternative fuel for compression-ignition engines: a review. Fuel, 2008, 87(7): 1014-1030

[8] Garcia-Perez M, Chaala A, Pakdel H, Kretschmer D, Roy C. Characterization of bio-oils in chemical families. Biomass and Bioenergy, 2007, 31(4): 222-242

[9] Guo X Y, Yan Y J, Li T C, Ren Z W,. Thermal stability and thermal decomposition of bio-oil before and after upgrading. Journal of East China University of Science and Technology, 2004, 30(3): 270-300 (in Chinese)

[10] Zhou J, Zhang H, Lü J F. Study on combustion characteristics of a petroleum coke at different heating rates by using thermogravimetry. Coal conversion, 2006, 29(2): 39-43 (in Chinese)

[11] Coats A W, Redfern J P. Kinetic parameters form thermo gravimetric data. Nature, 1964, 201(1): 68-69

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support by National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB210208), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50776019), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in Universities of China (NCET-05-0496).

Nomenclature
A	pre-exponential factor, s-1
E	activation energy, kJ·mol-1
n	reaction order
R	the linearity of fitting straight line
S	combustibility characteristic index, %2·°C-3·min-2
T	Temperature, °C
Ti	ignition temperature, °C
Tb	burnout temperature, °C
Α	conversion ratio, %
Β	heating rate, °C·min-1
dα/dt	instantaneous reaction rate, %·min-1
(dα/dt)max	the maximum instantaneous reaction rate, %·min-1
(dα/dt)mean	mean instantaneous reaction rate, %·min-1

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg