A Novel Solar Powered Biomass Pyrolysis Reactor for Producing Fuels and Chemicals

Asif H. Rony, Daniel Mosiman, Zhao Sun, Dengfeng Qin, Yuan Zheng, John H. Boman IV, Maohong Fan

Index: 10.1016/j.jaap.2018.03.020

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Abstract

In this work, a novel pyrolysis reaction system based on a concentrated solar simulator was designed by using a modified 5 kW cinema projector along with supporting components, modeled, and tested for generating bio-based materials including fuels and chemicals in a quartz glass reactor. A corresponding system for measuring the radiation profile produced by the solar simulator was developed. Furthermore, a series of flux maps was modeled with soltrace® to compare the experimental data with the theoretically derived counterparts. The solar simulator produced a peak solar intensity of over 700 suns in a 10 mm diameter area. The temporal variance for flux is within ±5%. A condensing system which can separate the liquid products at four different temperatures was also designed and constructed. The optimum temperature for maximum bio-oil production was 750 °C measured at the front of the reactor under direct irradiation of solar light. The produced bio-oil, bio-char and gases were analyzed with different instruments such as Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography (micro-GC), and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). The effects of solar light intensities on bio-oil composition were studied. Also, solar based pyrolysis was compared with conventional thermal based biomass pyrolysis. The scheme developed in this research opens a new pathway for renewable energy production with solar energy.