Effect of Different Process Parameters on the Pyrolysis of Iranian Oak Using a Fixed Bed Reactor and TGA Instrument

Pyrolysis of Iranian oak has been investigated under different temperatures, heating rates, particle sizes, carrier gases, and zeolite-based catalysts. A semi-batch fixed bed reactor and thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) were used to carry out the pyrolysis experiments simultaneously. The varied components of the produced organic liquids were measured using gas chromatograph mass spectrometry, and the results showed that phenols, furans, aldehydes, ketones, and hydrocarbons had significant shares of the liquid products. The obtained results from the GC/MS instrument showed that the studied process parameters could affect the type and share of pyrolysis products obviously. Also, the catalysts such as HZSM-5 and Ga/USY, as novel catalysts, had significant impact on the manufactured products, especially hydrocarbons. As a novel method, to make the pyrolysis more effective, the produced liquids were re-pyrolyzed under a pressure of hydrogen and nitrogen (15 bar) with the related catalyst to complete the initial pyrolysis. Also, the pressurized pyrolysis using the HZSM-5 catalyst in the presence of nitrogen was effective in the production of light and aromatic hydrocarbon compounds, while the USY catalyst in the presence of hydrogen had a key role in the production of aliphatics in the gasoline range. Meanwhile, at different heating rates, the non-isothermal mass losses of oak were measured using a TGA instrument. The TGA study showed that the heating rate could affect the degradation trends and that the activation energy decreased moderately with the increase in the heating rate in the studied range (58.80–50.18 kJ mol–1).