Low temperature microwave-assisted vs conventional pyrolysis of various biomass feedstocks

Peter Shuttleworth, Vitaliy Budarin, Mark Gronnow, James H. Clark*, Rafael Luque

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

A comparison between conventional pyrolysis and a novel developed low-temperature microwave-assisted pyrolysis methodology has been performed for the valorisation of a range of biomass feedstocks including waste residues. Microwave pyrolysis was found to efficiently deliver comparable evolution of bio-gases in the system as compared with conventional pyrolysis at significantly reduced temperatures (120-180°C vs 250-400°C). The gas obtained from microwave-assisted pyrolysis was found to contain CO 2, CH 4 and CO as major components as well as other related chemicals (e.g. acids, aldehydes, alkanes) which were obtained in different proportions depending on the selected feedstock.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)270-274
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Natural Gas Chemistry
Volume21
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 May 2012

Keywords

  • biomass valorisation
  • gas production
  • microwave-assisted pyrolysis

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