Received: 10 January 2022 Revised: 7 March 2022 Accepted: 20 March 2022

DOI: 10.1002/er.7904

SPECIAL ISSUE SHORT COMMUNICATION

Biofuel production using fast pyrolysis of various plant

waste biomasses in fixed bed and twin-screw reactors

Leena Kapoor1 | Akbar Mohammad2 | Jay Mant Jha3 | Neha Srivastava4 |

Sumit Kumar Jana5 | Mohammad Y. Alshahrani6 | Irfan Ahmad6 |
Dan Bahadur Pal5 | Vijai Kumar Gupta7
1
Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India
2
School of Chemical Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan, South Korea
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, Maulana Azad National Institute of Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India
4
Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India
5
Department of Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India
6
Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia
7
Biorefining and Advanced Materials Research Center, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh, UK

Correspondence
Vijai Kumar Gupta, Biorefining and
Summary
Advanced Materials Research Center, Fast pyrolysis of six biomasses mustard, camellia, pinewood, sawdust, bamboo,
Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Kings
and bagasse was completed at a temperature of 500
C in a fixed bed reactor and
Buildings, West Mains Road, Edinburgh
EH9 3JG, UK. a twin-screw reactor. It was found that the yield of bio-oil varied from 48 to
Email: [email protected], vijai.gupta@ 30 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 52 to 39 wt% in a twin-screw reactor, whereas
sruc.ac.uk
pyrolysis gases yield ranged from 34 to 20 wt% in a fixed bed reactor and 32 to
Dan Bahadur Pal, Department of
16 wt% in twin-screw reactor and biochar yield ranged from 36 to 24 wt% in fixed
Chemical Engineering, Birla Institute of
Technology, Mesra, Ranchi 835215, bed reactor and 32 to 16 wt% in a twin-screw reactor. High heating value (HHV)
Jharkhand, India. of bio-oil was found to be maximum for bamboo (24.45 MJ/kg) biomass, whereas
Email: [email protected]
in the case of biochar, the maximum HHV was obtained for pinewood (27 MJ/
Funding information kg) and sawdust (28 MJ/kg) biomass. On the characterization of the pyrolysis
King Khalid University, Grant/Award products, it is found that char obtained comprises mainly carbon while the liquid
Number: GRP-6-42
product, that is, bio-oil, is a mixture of hydrocarbons. The pyrolysis gases consist
of a mixture of carbon monoxide, hydrogen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen.

Novelty Statement
Biofuel production uses various biomasses via two different reactors that is, a
fixed bed reactor and a twin-screw reactor. The yield of oil in the range from
48 to 30 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 52 to 39 wt% in a twin-screw reactor and
biochar yield ranged from 36 to 24 wt% in fixed bed reactor and 32 to 16 wt%
in a twin-screw reactor. The high heating value (HHV) was optimum for bio-
oil produced via bamboo biomass (24.45 MJ/kg) whereas HHV for biochar pro-
duced via pyrolysis was found to be optimum for pinewood and sawdust bio-
mass (27 MJ/kg and 28 MJ/kg).

Leena Kapoor and Akbar Mohammad cont this study.

Int J Energy Res. 2022;1–9. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/er © 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1
2 KAPOOR ET AL.

KEYWORDS
biomass, fixed bed reactor, pyrolysis, twin-screw reactor

1 | INTRODUCTION Accordingly, a few technologies have been developed with

time: pyrolysis, combustion, liquefaction, gasification, etc.
Biomasses are defined as those materials, exclusive of fos- Pyrolysis is considered to be one of the elementary pro-
sil fuels, which were living organisms that have the poten- cesses for converting the biomass thermochemical; it is
tial to be used as a fuel either directly or after converting also the primary step in combustion or gasification pro-
them. Biomass energy has been in use in India since cesses.6 The analyses of the pyrolysis of biomasses can find
ancient times, basically in the form of husk, firewood, cow their uses in controlling and optimizing these processes.7
dung cake, and many other natural feedstocks.1 Unfortu- Most of the research has been focused on the testing of dif-
nately, the burning of biomass directly produces a high ferent reactor configurations and the development of new
amount of smoke and ash. Consequently, biogas plants reactors.8 High amounts of bio-oil yield and high efficiency
were developed as they are pollution-free, that is, they pro- are the primary goals for several workers. Recently publi-
duce no smoke. The Indian government provided various shed reviews classify the reactors as bubbling fluidized bed
subsidies to establish biogas plants. Newer technologies reactors, ablative pyrolysis, entrained flow reactor, circu-
like biomass gasification were also developed that convert lating fluidized bed reactors, fixed bed fast pyrolysis reac-
biomass into syngas.2 A large part of the Indian population tor, screw reactor, rotating cone, and vacuum pyrolysis
resides in rural areas. Based on a survey in 2018, approxi- reactor.8
mately 66% of the Indian population lives in rural areas.3 Bridgwater9 has discussed all the reactor configura-
Due to the increase in the demand for energy in rural tions in several studies and has discussed the technical
areas, power generation plants based on biomass are on a aspects, that is, liquid collection methods, heating rate,
rising trend. Hence, to plan electrification for around and char removal methods, with their advantages and
0.638 million villages in India, biomass can be a vital disadvantages. Tsai et al10 have done a detailed analysis
option. The biomass availability in India is approximately of the fast pyrolysis technology focusing on the feedstock
around 500 metric tons per year. Thus, approximately characterization that is available in plenty, reactor
17 500 MW of power can be created by using biomass as design, products obtained through pyrolysis, and their
raw material.4 Apart from agricultural waste, biomass can upgrading. The commercial processes must necessarily
also be taken from other sources like an industrial waste have the stages: proper reception of the feed, its storage,
(eg, bagasse in sugar mills). In India, approximately pre-treatment and preparing the feed, conversion of solid
550 sugar mills are currently operating and thus, an biomass into bio-oil through the fast pyrolysis process,
expected 73 000 MW of energy can be produced by 2030 and, finally, upgrading the bio-oil to a desirable market-
by using bagasse as biomass.5 Various other potential able end-product such as biofuels. Although each one of
sources for biomass include roadside shrubs, road sweep- these reactors is being studied on a lab scale, none of the
ings, agro-based industries, vegetable wastes, plantations, reactors is superior to the other; however, some reactors
etc.1 Biofuel has a high potential in the energy sector, since have been found more viable for commercial applications
the fuel and thus, oxygen required for their operation can than others have. The five technologies are most suitable
be taken from their immediate environment, and this and feasible for the commercialization process. These
offers great potential as a power source.5 Energy through are: (a) bubbling fluidized-bed reactors; (b) circulating
biomass is believed to be the most favorable among the fluidized-bed reactors; (c) screw reactors; (d) vacuum
renewable energy sources (RES) as it is widely available reactors; and (e) ablative reactors, which can generate
worldwide. Biomass pyrolysis has an inimitable advantage adequate amounts of liquid fuel that is, bio-oil. The
of producing solid, liquid, and gaseous fuels, which can be results obtained from these technologies justify their mar-
transported, stored, and utilized, far away from their place ket attractiveness. Among all these reactors, the
of production. Due to the negligible amounts of nitrogen fluidized-bed technology is considered to be well-
and sulfur components present in biomass pyrolysis prod- understood while screw reactors are better used for het-
ucts, its use does not lead to environmental pollution.3 erogeneous feedstocks. Screw reactors can easily handle
Thermochemical conversion is considered one of the most feed and smooth operations. A considerable amount of
promising ways to achieve high-efficiency conversions of work has been done on biomass pyrolysis. Many different
biomasses, converting the biomasses into solid, liquid, and biomass feedstocks have been chosen for pyrolysis, for
gaseous products at relatively high temperatures.6 example, bark, wood, nuts, seeds, algae, grass, forestry
KAPOOR ET AL. 3

and agricultural residues, lignin, and cellulose. All these biomass was done to remove dirt, foreign materials, dust,
feedstocks have been tested under various pyrolysis con- etc. Biomass feedstock was then crushed and sieved to
ditions and in different pyrolysis reactors. A major por- size ranges 2 mm. Biomass feedstock was then dried to
tion of research has been done using olive bagasse, wheat remove the moisture content. The pyrolysis experiments
straw (agro-biomass), pinewood (woody biomass) bio- using these biomasses were then performed at a tempera-
masses as feedstocks.11 The intermediate pyrolysis of ture of 500
C.
rapeseed as reported in the literature12 was studied in
fixed bed reactors at a temperature of 550
C with a
heating rate of 300
C/min using 0.6- to 0.85-mm particle 2.2 | Experimental setup
size solids under nitrogen flow rates of 100 cm3/min. It
resulted in about 65 wt% of bio-oil yield. Neem seed The pyrolysis experiments were performed in two differ-
pyrolysis was studied in semi-batch reactors. It resulted ent biomass pyrolysis reactors, that is, twin-screw reactor
in 38 wt% yield of bio-oil operated at 400
C to 500
C at and fixed bed reactor. The twin-screw reactor is made up
the rate of 20
C/min.13 The intermediate pyrolysis of of a horizontal pipe (AISI 316 steel). Inside the reactor
groundnut as a feedstock was investigated in the fluid- pipe, two screws each of length 565 mm are assembled
ized bed reactor at 400
C to 475
C. It resulted in 63.48 wt along the length of the reactor. The rotation of the screws
% of bio-oil.14 From all of these studies, the five basic moves the biomass along the reactor, that is, from the
parameters of the resulting oil were identified, namely, inlet toward the hot zone and then toward the outlet of
viscosity, pH, density, and low heating value (LHV) the reactor. The reactor's outer surface is covered with an
(24.56 cSt, 4.20, 1.2 kg/m3, and 31.07 MJ/kg).15 It is found electrical resistance wire to provide the heat for the pyrol-
from the literature survey that only very few studies have ysis reaction. The temperature of the reactor is monitored
been done on fixed bed and twin-screw reactors using the with the help of two K-type thermocouples, one placed
fast pyrolysis method. Biomass pyrolysis incorporates sev- inside and the other one outside of the reactor. After
eral extremely complex reactions with quite a large num- completion of the reaction, hot vapors are made to pass
ber of intermediates and end products.16 Since devising through the condenser unit to get the liquid product, that
precise reaction, mechanisms for biomass pyrolysis are is, bio-oil, while the solid product, that is, bio-char, is col-
difficult, pyrolysis models are devised in a manner that is lected in a cylindrical enclosed flask attached to the reac-
more macroscopic and empirical. This research is aimed tor. The non-condensable gases move to an exhaust
at studying the effects of various process conditions on system.
the fixed bed and screw reactor using a few sample bio- The second rector used for this study is a fixed bed
masses.This study seeks to understand the potential for reactor. This is a vertical reactor system, which consists
producing bio-oil by pyrolysis of certain biomass that is of a vertical tube made of INCONEL 800. The length of
widely available in Uttarakhand, India. The motivation the vertical tube is around 3 ft. and the inner diameter of
for the study is the need to produce renewable liquid the vertical tube is around 25 mm. The vertical tube is
fuels. For experimentation, six different types of bio- covered with the electrical furnace, which provides the
masses were collected from the local agriculture field in heat for the pyrolysis reaction. In this reactor, setup three
the Dehradun region India. The collected biomass was thermocouples are installed along with digital tempera-
washed and dried properly to make it ready for experi- ture indicators. The hot vapors produced via pyrolysis
mentation. Two types of reactors were used for the pyrol- reaction are made to pass through two glass condensers
ysis, namely fixed bed reactors and twin screw/moving where cold water is circulated for quenching the vapors
bed reactors. The experimental results obtained from that are obtained via pyrolysis to get the desired bio-oil.
both the reactors were compared based on yields The solid obtained within the reactor is cooled and is
obtained. then weighed. The gas formed is measured by making a
difference.

2 | MATERIALS AND METHODS

2.3 | Experimental
2.1 | Biomass feedstock
Before starting the experiments, the operating conditions
Biomass such as sawdust, bagasse, bamboo, mustard, like the temperature of the reactor, biomass feed rate,
camellia, and pinewood which is otherwise waste was screw velocity in the case of the twin-screw reactor, and
collected from the nearby region. The pretreatment of the nitrogen flow rate were pre-defined. The first step
4 KAPOOR ET AL.

TABLE 1 Proximate, ultimate, and high heating value of biomass feedstock

Bamboo Mustard (Khari) Camellia Pinewood Sawdust Bagasse

Properties Proximate analysis wt%

Volatile matter 76.72 70.78 80.20 58.23 70.31 71.7
Ash content 2.57 14.98 4.78 2.3 6.98 6.8
Moisture 10.25 6.86 0.49 12.95 9.37 6.8
Fixed carbon 10.84 7.38 14.53 21.84 17.75 19.2
Ultimate analysis wt%
Carbon 44.90 46.31 38.90 48.96 43.17 44.61
Nitrogen 0.72 4.45 0.71 0.32 0.09 0.86
Hydrogen 6.038 7.055 5.875 4.761 5.081 5.671
Sulfur 0.018 0.036 0.165 0.05 0.04 0.02
Oxygen 48.342 42.149 54.35 34.51 36.87 43.52
Calorific value (MJ/kg)
Theoretical 16.2 19.06 13.02 17.86 16.02 16.31
Experimental 16.8 20.24 16.12 18.1 15.15 17.2

followed to perform the experiments was the preparation TABLE 2 ASTM standards for proximate analysis
of biomass samples, that is, the biomasses used were first Proximate analysis Standards
crushed, sieved, and dried completely. The temperature
Moisture ASTM E871
of the reactor was then set in the control panel attached
Ash ASTN E830, ASTN D 1102
to the reactor which ultimately raises the reactor temper-
ature to the required set limit. The temperature in the Volatiles ASTM E872/E897
reactor is monitored with the help of thermocouples Fixed carbon By difference
arranged along the reactor length. Three thermocouples
were being used in the case of the fixed bed reactor and
two thermocouples were used in the case of the twin-
screw reactor. The temperature of the reactor was collected and weighed. After the collection of bio-oil and
maintained constant throughout all the experimental char, the whole reactor assembly was cleaned properly
runs with the help of the temperature control panel. The with acetone.
coolant used was pumped along with the condensers.
The continuous nitrogen supply was maintained to create
an inert atmosphere inside the reactor. The motor in the 2.4 | Biomass characterization
case of the twin-screw reactor was then switched on to
rotate the twin screws in the reactor. In the case of the Elemental analysis of all biomass samples has been done
fixed bed reactor, the pre-weighed biomass sample was using an elemental analyzer (Perkin Elmer, 2400 series
kept inside the reactor for various time intervals while in II). The results of the proximate analysis, ultimate analy-
the case of the twin-screw reactor the biomass sample is sis, and high heating value are shown in Table 1. The
fed into the feeding hopper from where it moves inside proximate analysis for biomass samples was done as per
the reactor with the help of the screw arrangement. As the standard ASTM method, as shown in Table 2. The
the twin screw rotates the biomass samples move inside calorific value of all biomass feedstock is determined
the reactor where the pyrolysis reaction takes place. The through experiments in a bomb calorimeter. The theoret-
experimental run was considered complete when no bio- ical calorific value has been calculated using a modified
mass sample is observed in the feeding hopper and no Dulong equation:
gaseous product is visible at the exhaust of the reactor. At  
this stage, the heater and rotational motor (in the case of MJ 33:5  wt%carbon 14:2  wt%hydrogen
CV ¼ þ
kg 100 100
the twin-screw reactor) are switched off. The nitrogen ð1Þ
supply is then stopped. The coolant pump is then 15:4  wt%oxygen
 :
switched off. The bio-oil and char thus obtained are then 100
KAPOOR ET AL. 5

3.2 | Proximate and ultimate analysis of

100 Mustard biomass
Camellia
Bamboo
Sawdust
Figure 2 shows the effect of moisture content on the yield
80
Bagassae of biochar, bio-oil, and pyrolysis gases. The moisture con-
Weight (%)

Pinewood tent present in the biomass affects the heat transfer rate
60 significantly, which, in turn, influences the product yield.
In this study, it was found that the high moisture content
of the biomass leads to high liquid yields. Consequently,
40
biomasses such as pinewood, sawdust, and bamboo are
more favorable in bio-oil production (related to the lignin
20 content). The ratios of moisture content, ash content, vol-
atile matter, and fixed carbon content of various bio-
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 masses have an important effect on the product yields.
Temperature (°C) The biomass containing high volatile matter results in
high quantities of bio-oil and syngas, whereas the fixed
FIGURE 1 TGA analysis for different biomasses carbon increases the biochar production. The carbon,
oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and ash content significantly
affect the pyrolysis products. It was found that the bio-
The TGA analysis for selected biomass samples in this mass feedstocks with low nitrogen and mineral contents
study is done in a TGA instrument (TGA-Q600) with the result in high bio-oil and syngas production.
N2 flow rate maintained at 40 mL/min and a heating rate
of 10
C/min. The sample taken for TGA analysis was
10 mg. All the selected samples for this study were heated 3.3 | Product yield
to 900
C.
The amount of moisture present in the biomass sam- The amount of bio-oil and biochar produced via fast pyrol-
ples significantly affects the conversion of biomass via ysis experiments in both the reactor setup was calculated
pyrolysis, so the moisture has to be removed before carry- by weighing the biomass samples before and after each of
ing out pyrolysis. The ash content in biomass usually the experiments. The product yields are then calculated
helps in catalyzing secondary pyrolysis reactions, which based on the weight of the products formed and the weight
has a major influence on product yield while the volatile of the initial samples taken. The product streams obtained
matter content and fixed carbon present in the biomass through fast pyrolysis presence of condensate of organic
samples shows the ease with which biomass feedstocks compound, commonly known as biochar, and gaseous
can be burnt. products known as non-condensable vapors. It is observed
that a higher bio-oil yield was found for pinewood, bam-
boo, and sawdust due to their high volatile matter content.
3 | R ES U L T S A N D D I S C U S S I O N It is found that pinewood and bamboo biomasses resulted
in maximum bio-oil yield (52 wt%) and lowest biochar
3.1 | Thermogravimetric analysis yield (24 wt%). This is due to the presence of high cellulose
and hemicellulose content in the biomass which results in
Figure 1 shows the results of thermogravimetric analysis high bio-oil yields in comparison to biomass with high lig-
for six-biomass feedstock used in this study. It is found nin content.18 The high volatile matter in these biomasses
that all the six biomasses started to devolatilize between also favors high bio-oil production. A high ash content
the temperature ranges of 200
C and 300
C. Major result in a decreased production of bio-oil while the pro-
weight loss in all the biomass samples occurs at around duction of char and gas increases. Thus, a higher bio-oil
300
C to 400
C. At 400
C, the weight loss becomes steady yield can be obtained in biomasses having higher amounts
and slower; this indicates the formation of biochar, and of volatile matter and a lower amount of ash. The percent-
continued up to 500
C as a result the pyrolysis tempera- age of the lighter components was found to be lower in the
ture was chosen at 500
C. The range of degradation tem- case of the twin-screw reactor in comparison to a fixed bed
perature for Hemicellulose, Cellulose, and Lignin are reactor as also being observed by other workers.19 The
200
C to 300
C, 250
C to 350
C, and 200
C to 500
C, pyrolysis experiments were performed at the temperature
respectively.17 of 500
C, at a nitrogen flow rate of 526 mL/min, the
6 KAPOOR ET AL.

FIGURE 2 Effect of moisture content on (A) bio char yield, (B) bio-oil yield, and (C) pyrolysis gases

FIGURE 3 Experimental result of product yield from (A) fixed bed reactor and (B) screw reactor

residence time of 2 min. In the twin-screw reactor, the compared to the screw reactor. This result is due to the
screw rpm was kept at 55 rpm. The mass flow rate of bio- high heating rate in the twin-screw reactor.
mass in a screw reactor is 0.5 kg/h. The product yield from
both the reactor system is shown in Figure 3. A consider-
able amount of liquid is obtained in both the reactors, that 3.4 | Bio-oil and biochar analysis
is, auger and fixed bed reactor. From Figure 3 it can be
observed that the product yields, that is, liquid and gas are The product streams obtained through fast pyrolysis pres-
found to be different based on the reactor type. The liquid ence of condensate of organic compound better known as
yield decreases (from 2 to 10 wt%) while the gas yield oil, the solid formed commonly known as biochar, and gas-
increases (from 2 to 10 wt%) in the fixed bed reactor when eous products known as non-condensable gases. It has been
KAPOOR ET AL. 7

Ash Content chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) study using

60
Fixed Bed Reactor the NIST library. Components such as aldehydes, carbox-
51
Screw reactor 52 ylic acids, ketones, phenols, esters, and amides were
50 48 47 46 found to be the main chemical groups present in bio-oils.
45
43 It was observed that pinewood biomass contains signifi-
40 41
Bio Oil Yield (wt.%)

40 39 39 cant amounts of phenolic components, which is due to

the lignin content found in pinewood in comparison to
30 other biomasses used in this study. Similar results were
30
observed when compared to other studies.22 GC-MS anal-
20
ysis, thus, reveals that bio-oil from various biomasses
14.98 consists of mainly ketones, alkane, alkynes, amines,
alkene, imine, alcohols, and heterocyclic compounds.
10
6.98 Through GC-MS analysis, it is observed that bio-oils
4.78
3.2
2.57 2.3 obtained from various biomass samples have similar
0
components with a little amount of variation in the per-
Bamboo Mustard Camellia Saw dust Pinewood Bagasse
Biomass centage of saturates and aromatics. It is found that the
aromatics and saturates percentage were less in bio-oil
FIGURE 4 Effect of ash content on bio-oil yield produced from the fixed bed reactor in comparison to
bio-oil obtained from the moving bed reactor due to early
observed that various types of feedstocks produce different removal of pyrolysis products from the fixed bed reactor.
amounts of char, bio-oil, and varying gas compositions. The Through this study, it is also observed that hydrocarbons
samples taken from all the biomasses have shown similar are the most abundant product found in bio-oils. Other
compositions, which indicate good process stability. The workers had found naphthalene, fluorine, and other
percentage of the lighter components was found to be lower polycyclic aromatic compounds in bio-oil but in this
in the case of the twin-screw reactor in comparison to the study, none of these hydrocarbons was detected. This
fixed bed reactor as has also been observed by other may be due to the different biomass types, short gas resi-
workers. The screw reactor is associated with a fast-heating dence times, and low reaction temperatures.
rate and long residence times of the vapors, which results The calorific value of bio-oils obtained via pyrolysis in
in the formation of a severe product. Slow heating rate both the systems is found to be high, that is, comparable to
results in the gradual degradation of biomasses. The highest light fuel oil and, thus, can be used as a synthetic liquid
bio-oil yield found using the screw reactor was with pine- fuel. The biochar thus produced consists of initial mineral
wood (52 wt%) and the lowest with bagasse (39 wt%). This matter formed due to process severity. The ash content in
may be due to the presence of low ash content (2.3 wt%) biochar is found to be high and has similar values as those
and high cellulose content in the pinewood which got reported by other workers.23 The ash percentage was found
converted into bio-oil. Because of high ash content, agro to be 9 to 15 wt% based on the characteristic of the biomass
biomasses such as camellia, mustard, and bagasse presented feed. GC-MS was performed on an Agilent 6890 N unit with
lower yields of bio-oil, as shown in Figure 4. On the other a GC column 25-μm thickness, DB- 1701, 60  0.25 mm.
hand, by using the fixed bed reactor configuration the maxi-
mum amount of bio-oil was produced with bamboo. The
yields of biomasses obtained in this study are comparable to 3.6 | Calorific value for biomass
those obtained in other studies20 involving screw reactors
and fixed bed reactors. Available information collected from The calorific values were determined experimentally and
various sources21 establishes that the maximum bio-oil yield theoretically (HHV) for all the biomass feedstock is used
from various biomasses was found to be 50.12 wt% at pyrol- in this study. The calorific value thus determined from
ysis temperatures of 500
C under the sweeping gas of N2 both sources has an error of ±5%. It is found from this
with a flow rate of 100 mL/min. This is similar to our study that pinewood and bamboo bio-oil resulted in high
present work. calorific values in comparison to respective biochars and
biomasses. The biochar has a high calorific value in com-
parison to biomass samples due to the presence of a
3.5 | GC analysis of bio-oil lower percentage of hydrogen and oxygen than carbon,
which significantly increases the energy value of the fuel
The components present in bio-oil produced from bio- as more energy is contained in C–C bonds than in C–O
mass pyrolysis were found through a gas and C–H bonds.24 Figure 5 shows the calorific values of
8 KAPOOR ET AL.

FIGURE 5 Experimental and theoretical calorific value of biomass samples and products: (A) fixed bed reactor; (B) screw reactor

bio-oils obtained from the pyrolysis of bamboo, mustard, guidance. The authors would like to thank the Scientific
camellia, pinewood, bagasse, and sawdust. Bridgwater25 Research Deanship at King Khalid University, Abha,
stated that a higher heating value of bio-oil is produced Saudi Arabia for their financial support through General
from higher temperatures and shorter times. Research Project under grant number (GRP-6-42).
V.K.G. would like to acknowledge the institutional
research funding supported by the Scotland’s Rural Col-
4 | C ON C L U S I ON S lege (SRUC), UK.

Biomass pyrolysis experiments were performed in two dif- CONFLICT OF INTERESTS

ferent types of reactors, that is, fixed bed and twin-screw The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
reactors operating under similar temperature conditions
500
C and in an inert atmosphere of nitrogen. Biomass DA TA AVAI LA BI LI TY S T ATE ME NT
pyrolysis of biomasses at fast pyrolysis in a twin-screw reac- Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no
tor produced a maximum bio-oil yield of 52 wt% with pine- datasets were generated or analyzed during this study.
wood, biochar of 33 wt% from bamboo and gas of 32 wt%
from bagasse. In a fixed bed reactor, the optimum oil of ORCID
48 wt% with bamboo, biochar of 36 wt% and pyrolysis gases Vijai Kumar Gupta https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1565-
34% from bagasse. Bamboo has produced bio-oil with a 5918
higher calorific value (24.45 MJ/kg) comparable with
bagasse (24 MJ/kg). Pinewood and sawdust have produced RE FER EN CES
biochar with higher calorific values (27 and 28 MJ/kg). The 1. Mlonka-Medrala A, Evangelopoulos P, Sieradzka M,
pyrolysis products obtained from this study can be used as Zajemska M, Magdziarz A. Pyrolysis of agricultural waste bio-
a possible energy source or chemical feedstock. Bio-oil can mass towards production of gas fuel and high-quality char: exper-
be used as a liquid fuel by improving its properties. imental and numerical investigations. Fuel. 2021;296:12061.
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(UPES, Dehradun), Dr K. K. Pant (Professor, Department energy resources, potential, conversion and policy in India.
of Chemical Engineering, IIT Delhi) for the support and Renew Sustain Energy Rev. 2015;45:530-539.
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