Vacuum Pyrolysis of Brazilian coal, peat and biomass - 1. Preliminary results on characterization of feedstock, solid residues and conversion rates
Kalkreuth, W.1; do Carmo Ruaro Peralba , M.2; Barrionuevo, S.1; Hinrichs, R.,3; Lourenzi, R.1; Osorio, E.4; Pohlmann, J.4; Roy, C.5; De Caumia, B.5; Pakdel, H.5
1 Instituto de Geociências, UFRGS; 2 Instituto de Quimica, UFRGS; 3 Instituto de Geociências, UFRGS, e-mail:; 4 LASID, Centro de Tecnologia, UFRGS; 5 Pyrovac Inc, Quebec City, QC, Canada
Baixar PDF doi:10.20906/CPS/CBCM2017-0073
Resumo
Pyrolysis of solid fuels such as coal, peat and biomass is one of the principal technologies for the generation of liquid and gaseous products from these materials, as well as for the generation of a solid residue (char). The data presented here come from a recently installed bench-scale vacuum pyrolysis unit at the Instituto de Geociencias, UFRGS, manufactured at Pyrovac Inc, Canada. This unit has a maximum capacity for testing 400g of sample material, heated to a maximum of 550 oC at a heating rate of 10 oC/min and a pressure regime of < 1.0 kPa. The sample is kept at maximum temperature for 2 hours. The liquid products were condensed during the experiments in 4 traps connected in series, applying cooling temperatures of 0 oC and -74 oC, respectively, while the solid residue (char) was removed from the reactor after cooling down to slightly above room temperature. The gas volume generated during the pyrolysis experiment was estimated from mass balance, subtracting the sum of solid residue (char) and trapped organic matter and water mass from the mass of feedstock used in the experiment. Until now 6 representative coal samples were tested collected from open and underground mines in the states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná. The 10 biomass samples tested so far include some of the more common biomass types grown in Brazil, namely sugar cane, Eucalyptus tree, Signal Grass and Rice husks. The 2 peat samples tested were collected by shallow drilling from a nearby peat deposit at Águas Claras, RS. The coal, biomass and peat feedstocks as well as their respective residues (chars) were analyzed by a number of chemical and physical parameter such as proximate and ultimate analyses, gross calorific values, vitrinite reflectances and degree of reactivity. Results from analyses of feed coals and solid residues show a rank ranging from subbituminous to high volatile A bituminous (Ro between 0.44 to 0.88 %) except for one sample, which has been partially altered by contact with a volcanic intrusion and show
Palavras-chave: Vacuum Pyrolysis; Brazilian Coal; Peat; Biomass; Conversion Characterization