Effects of co-pyrolysis interaction performance of cellulose and lignin on the gas products and hydrogen generation path

In this study, cellulose and lignin were subjected to co-pyrolysis for the production of syngas. For the pyrolysis experiments, three influencing factors were selected using a response surface method: pyrolysis temperature (400–800 °C), residence time (5–30 min), and lignin mass percentage (0–100 wt%). At a pyrolysis temperature of 477.4 °C, a residence time of 30 min, and a lignin mass percentage of 50 wt%, the actual syngas yield was 77.2 % higher than the theoretical value for the co-pyrolysis. In addition, the hydrogen volume fraction was improved by up to 24.87 % because of the interaction between cellulose and lignin during their co-pyrolysis (pyrolysis temperature of 800 °C, residence time of 17.5 min, lignin mass percentage of 80.65 wt%). Finally, the hydrogen formation process was simulated, using reactive force field molecular dynamics. The results showed that hydrogen molecules began to appear at a simulation time of 0.479 ns and then gradually increased in number with progressing simulation time. In addition, the hydrogen generation pathways were obtained by this simulation method. This study provides a data foundation for optimizing syngas and hydrogen production from biomass. [Display omitted] •Syngas preparation method from co-pyrolysis of cellulose and lignin is proposed.•Effect of temperature, time, and mass ratio on the syngas yield is investigated.•The interaction effect of cellulose and lignin promotes syngas and hydrogen volume fraction.•Best fitting models for the syngas yield are quadratic regression equations.•The hydrogen formation was simulated with reactive force field molecular dynamics.