Two-Step Thermochemical Process for Adding Value to Used Railroad Wood Ties and Reducing Environmental Impacts

摘要

src="http://pubs.acs.org/appl/literatum/publisher/achs/journals/content/ascecg/2017/ascecg.2017.5.issue-10/acssuschemeng.7b02666/20170926/images/medium/sc-2017-02666r_0008.gif">A two-step thermochemical process combining a thermal desorption at 250–300 °C and a pyrolysis at 500 °C of used creosote-treated wooden railroad ties was carried out to recover preservative and produce a high quality bio-oil and biochar. Under optimal temperature between 280 and 300 °C, high preservative removal efficiency (70–74%) was achieved with a high proportion of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs, 80–82%) and a large portion of the original wood mass (67–70%) was retained. This thermally treated biomass had higher heating value (HHV; 19.9–20 MJ/kg) than the starting material. The physical properties of the preservative, such as viscosity and density, and its toxic threshold against a common decay basidiomycete fungus were similar to those of commercially available P2-creosote. Pyrolysis of the thermally treated ties produced bio-oils with lower water content and total acid numbers, and a higher amount of lignin-derived compounds than that of untreated ties. Biochars derived from the thermally treated ties contained higher carbon content and lower amount of PAHs than biochars from untreated ties.