Design, make and preliminary testing of a high throughput ablative pyrolysis reactor for biomass and agro-residues

Pyrolysis can convert biomass and agro-residues to condensable volatiles (bio-oils), non-condensable gases, and biochar at moderate temperatures under free air/oxygen. A pyrolysis reactor is the key component. In this work, a high throughput pyrolysis reactor based on the highly effective heat transfer mechanism of ablation was developed. The reactor design was simple, allowing for easy construction and operation. A vacuum pump was used to remove air from a reaction chamber. The reaction chamber was cylindrical and made from alloy-steel with a maximum capacity of 120 L. The bottom side of the chamber was heated using a cooking gas flame. A rotating impeller was installed inside the horizontal chamber to enable ablative heat transfer. It was also equipped with a condenser unit to quickly condense volatiles into oils. Preliminary tests with palm shells (10-20 mm) and corncobs (120-200 mm) were conducted to produce bio-oil and bio-char. It was shown that this pyrolyzer system could produce high yields of bio-oil from corncobs (40%) and palm shells (50%) at 400 oC.