An Experimental Study of the Vapor Temperature in the Reaction Zone for Producing Liquid from Camphor Wood in a Non-sweeping Gas Fixed-bed Pyrolysis Reactor

Abstract

The liquids produced by the pyrolysis process with biomass as the raw material are popularly called bio-oil. The reaction zone temperature in the pyrolysis process affects the liquid yield in a non-sweeping gas fixed-bed reactor. This research aims to obtain the effect of temperature in the reaction zone on the liquid yield. Camphor wood was fed into the reactor as raw material. An electric heater was controlled using the proportional integral differential (PID) controller to keep the reactor temperature constant at 500°C as an optimum decomposition temperature. To control the vapor temperature in the reaction zone, an electric heater was mounted on the wall of the reaction zone, which was equipped with a PID controller to keep the temperature constant. To convert the pyrolysis vapor into liquid, a double pipe condenser was used in the system. This study showed that the liquid yield increases as the vapor temperature increases. The rise in vapor temperature from an ambient temperature to 200°C increases the liquid yield 17.0 wt% with a low heating rate, 5 wt% with a heating rate of 8°C/minute and 4.5 wt% with a heating rate of 17°C/minute. Early condensation occurred due to the low temperature of the vapor at the reaction zone.

Keywords

• Camphor wood
• Fixed-bed pyrolysis reactor
• Liquid yield
• Reaction zone
• Vapor temperature