Effects of dry explosion pretreatment on physicochemical and fuel properties of hybrid pennisetum (Pennisetum americanum x P. purpureum)

摘要

Pretreatment of lignocellulose is a critical step in biomass exploitation. This paper proposed a dry explosion pretreatment based on steam explosion in order to improve energy efficiency and treatment effects. A laboratory simulation test bench was built. Hybrid pennisetum was selected as the experimental material. Dry explosion pretreatment under different conditions (temperature: 200, 225, 250, 275 degrees C, time: 10, 20 min) was conducted. The results showed that dry explosion had lower energy consumption level than steam explosion. Moreover, dry explosion enhanced fuel properties of biomass. The crystallinity of treated samples decreased greatly at high treatment severity. Multiple pyrolysis properties of samples increased first and then decreased with the increase of treatment severity, which was mainly due to dry explosion changing the proportion and nature of the components. These results showed that dry explosion pretreatment can effectively convert biomass into intermediate materials that are beneficial for thermochemical applications.