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Spontaneous Aerosol Ejection: Origin of Inorganic Particles in Biomass Pyrolysis
Author(s) -
Teixeira Andrew R.,
Gantt Rachel,
Joseph Kristeen E.,
Maduskar Saurabh,
Paulsen Alex D.,
Krumm Christoph,
Zhu Cheng,
Dauenhauer Paul J.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
chemsuschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.412
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1864-564X
pISSN - 1864-5631
DOI - 10.1002/cssc.201600112
Subject(s) - pyrolysis , aerosol , cellulose , chemical engineering , chemistry , particle (ecology) , biomass (ecology) , fractionation , fraction (chemistry) , materials science , organic chemistry , oceanography , engineering , geology
At high thermal flux and temperatures of approximately 500 °C, lignocellulosic biomass transforms to a reactive liquid intermediate before evaporating to condensable bio‐oil for downstream upgrading to renewable fuels and chemicals. However, the existence of a fraction of nonvolatile compounds in condensed bio‐oil diminishes the product quality and, in the case of inorganic materials, catalyzes undesirable aging reactions within bio‐oil. In this study, ablative pyrolysis of crystalline cellulose was evaluated, with and without doped calcium, for the generation of inorganic‐transporting aerosols by reactive boiling ejection from liquid intermediate cellulose. Aerosols were characterized by laser diffraction light scattering, inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy, and high‐speed photography. Pyrolysis product fractionation revealed that approximately 3 % of the initial feed (both organic and inorganic) was transported to the gas phase as aerosols. Large bubble‐to‐aerosol size ratios and visualization of significant late‐time ejections in the pyrolyzing cellulose suggest the formation of film bubbles in addition to the previously discovered jet formation mechanism.