Characterization of the liquid products in the pyrolysis of residual chanar and palm fruit biomasses

摘要

The endocarp in the chafiar {Geoffioea decorticans) fruit, the pericarp in the white palm (Copernicia alba Morong) fruit and the exhausted white palm seeds from the extraction of oil are all residual lignocellu-losic biomasses from the food processing of these fruits. The pyrolysis was performed at 550 ℃ in a fixed bed reactor during 30 min under N_2 flow with a 15 ℃/min heating ramp from room temperature. In all the cases a liquid product (bio-oil and tar) with yields from 35 to 50 wt.%, a gas product and a solid product (char), were produced. The tar represented from 5 to 20 wt.% of the liquid product. The highest bio-oil yield (47 wt.%) was obtained with the chafiar fruit endocarp and the highest tar yield (8.8 wt.%) was obtained with the white palm seeds. The bio-oils contained mainly acids (from 6 to 18 wt.%), aldehydes and ketones (from 2 to 10 wt.%) and phenols (from 4 to 13 wt.%), with a high water content (from 44 to 81 wt.%). Their pH was acidic and the densities ranged from 0.97 to 1.24 kg/dm3. The tars had mainly phenols and oxygenated compounds of high molecular weight. After these results, these residual biomasses can be considered as a potential source for energy or fuels and valuable chemical products.