Studies on microwave pyrolysis of tamarind seed

Pyrolysis is a technique that produces three products: bio-oil, bio-char and non-condensable gases by means of thermal decomposition of the feedstock in oxygen free environment. In this work, tamarind seed was pyrolysed for the production of bio-oil by a non-conventional microwave heating technique known as microwave pyrolysis. This process is carried out in a domestic microwave oven at three different power inputs of 600 W, 700 W and 800 W at 2.45 GHz. The highest bio-oil yield of 36% was obtained at 700 W power. The tamarind seed bio-oil was found to have a flash point of 93°C, kinematic viscosity of 5.92 cSt and pH of 6.57. The calorific value of the bio-oil obtained by microwave pyrolysis was higher when compared to the bio-oil obtained from conventional pyrolysis of tamarind seed.