1. Pyrolysis of dedicated bioenergy crops grown on reclaimed mine land in West Virginia.
- Author
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Oginni, Oluwatosin, Singh, Kaushlendra, and Zondlo, John W.
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ENERGY crops , *CROP growth , *PYROLYSIS , *BIOMASS energy - Abstract
Dedicated bioenergy crops grown on marginal lands such as reclaimed mine lands and other non-arable lands are auspicious cellulosic sources for sustainable bioenergy production. In this study, characterization of pyrolysis products were documented for two dedicated bioenergy crops grown on reclaimed coal-mine lands in West Virginia. Two clonal varieties (Private and Public varieties) of Miscanthus ( Miscanthus x giganteus ) and two varieties (Bomaster and Kanlow varieties) of Switchgrass ( Panicum virgatum L ) were used in this study. The oven-dried samples were pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed batch reactor under an inert condition and at a temperature of 500 °C to produce biochar and bio-oil (vapor condensate). The pyrolysis product, energy and carbon conversion yields were calculated. Additionally, biochar and bio-oil were characterized for elemental composition, volatile, ash and calorific values. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the biochar yields (about 30.00% yield) obtained from the clonal varieties of Switchgrass and Miscanthus. The bio-oil yields were in the range of 45.00–51.00% with the Miscanthus (Private variety) having the highest bio-oil yield of 50.61%. The carbon content of the biomass, biochar and bio-oil were found to be 46.80–48.02%, 77.72–80.23% and 54.68–59.68%, respectively. Average calorific values were found to be 19.49 MJ/kg, 29.01 MJ/kg and 24.98 MJ/kg for the biomass, biochar and bio-oil, respectively. Results for the surface chemistry of the biochars showed carbon and oxygen to be the major chemical constituents of the surfaces of the biochars. Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), nitrogen (N 2 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) were found to be the major components of the non-condensable gas and the CO:CO 2 ratio showed that the non-condensable gas cannot be used as a fluidizing medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2017
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