EFFECT OF TEMPERATURE AND PRESSURE ON STEAM PYROLYSIS OF CELLULOSE

Steam assisted pyrolysis could represent a valuable technique of processing mixed herbaceous biomass wastes for both matter and combustion based energy recovery. The set-up of efficient and sustainable technologies exploiting steam pyrolysis to this aim requires both the definition of optimal operating conditions and the build up of a well-established corpus of knowledge on the effects of these conditions and of feedstock composition and preparation on final products and overall energetic balances. To this aim a multi-plate laboratory reactor has been realized and a systematic experimental work is currently carried out. Methodology of this approach is here briefly discussed in relation to the peculiar design of the test reactor that allows for realization of steam pyrolysis of biomasses quantities, under quasi-kinetic controlled conditions, enabling a thorough quantitative characterization of gaseous, liquid and solid products yields and characteristics otherwise impossible in standard thermogravimetric systems. One of the key points of the proposed methodology is the exploitation of a systematic exploration of pyrolysis process of elementary biomasses constituents. In the present paper thermal analysis of cellulose degradation, aimed at evaluate influence of pressure on cellulose degradation in terms of products yields and gas composition in the range 2-5bar, is reported and compared to TGA experiments in order to test the reactor performances in terms of thermal control.