Effects of biomass/coal copyrolysis parameters on the product yield: a review

Abstract

Pyrolysis is one of the prospective processes that can be utilized to obtain high value chemicals and energy from coal and biomass. Coal-biomass co-pyrolysis presents a green, low-risk, cheap, sustainable, renewable energy source with low carbon emissions. Co-pyrolysis offers the highest yield of liquid fuels and gas compared to the individual feedstocks. It has been illustrated that the production yields experimentally usually exceed the calculated and this can be explained by the possible synergy and interactions that takes place when coal is blended with biomass. The progressive OH and H ions donated to coal from biomass together with the catalytic function of AAEM species (mainly K, Na, Ca, and Mg) could explain this synergetic effect from the biomass. The yield, composition and distribution of coal-biomass co-pyrolysis products is largely dependent on operative parameters. Therefore, it is very important to explore the effects of these variables on product yield. Parameters influencing coal-biomass pyrolysis include feedstock type, feedstock pre-treatment, and reaction conditions i.e. catalysis, temperature, residence time and heating rate. This written material outlines a concise product properties due to the variable pyrolysis conditions together with product analysis methods.