Bio-oils from vacuum ablative pyrolysis of torrefied tobacco residues

• Main Authors: Nattawut Khuenkaeo, Blake MacQueen, Thossaporn Onsree, Sangu Daiya, Nakorn Tippayawong, Jochen Lauterbach
• Format: Journal
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Chemical Engineering; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85092094917&origin=inward; http://cmuir.cmu.ac.th/jspui/handle/6653943832/70319
• Institution: Chiang Mai University

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2020. Fast pyrolysis, in combination with torrefaction pretreatment, was used to convert tobacco residues to value-added bio-fuels and chemicals. Tobacco plant residues were torrefied at 220, 260, and 300 °C, before being pyrolyzed at 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C in a rotating blade ablative reactor under vacuum conditions to test the effects on product yields. With torrefaction, tobacco residues thermally decomposed 20-25% w/w at low temperatures. Torrefaction and pyrolysis temperatures were found to markedly affect pyrolytic product yields of bio-chars and bio-oils, while having no effect on gas-phase products. Bio-oil yields exhibited a direct relation with pyrolysis temperature and an inverse relation with torrefaction temperature. Bio-oils produced were separated into light and heavy oils and analyzed by GC-MS, and1H and13C NMR. Nicotine was found to be the main compound in the light and heavy oils along with several phenols and cresols in the heavy oil.