Full text
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| Author(s): |
Nahieh Toscano Miranda
Total Authors: 1
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| Document type: | Master's Dissertation |
| Press: | Campinas, SP. |
| Institution: | Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia Química |
| Defense date: | 2018-07-31 |
| Examining board members: |
Maria Regina Wolf Maciel;
Adriano Pinto Mariano;
Eduardo Augusto Caldas Batista
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| Advisor: | Maria Regina Wolf Maciel; Rubens Maciel Filho |
| Abstract | |
There is an incessant search for alternatives to fossil fuels associated with environmental impacts that have to be safe, renewable, and clean. Among the several processes that have been studied and some already developed in a pilot scale, pyrolysis of biomass, for the production of liquid fuels (bio-oil) and solids (biochar), has received special attention for its products and market importance. Note that biochar still has applications in the area of composites and materials. In this context, this dissertation aimed at investigating the operating conditions for the production of bio-oil and biochar from sugarcane bagasse by computational simulations, commissioning and experimental studies in a thermochemical processes pilot plant. To perform all these steps, the sugarcane bagasse was initially characterized to identify its components by ultimate, proximate and biochemical analyses, as well as the thermochemical analysis by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). These data were used to perform the simulation of the process by the commercial simulator Aspen Plus® V8.6, to identify the operating conditions (temperature, pressure, and moisture content) and their impacts on the conversions of the desired products. After the simulation of the process, with the identification of the most adequate operating conditions, procedures were performed for the reinstallation and adaptation of a gasification pilot plant located at LOPCA (Laboratory of Process Optimization and Advanced Control)/FEQ/UNICAMP, containing a fluidized bed reactor, to enable the pyrolysis process to occur. The production of bio-oil was proved by elemental and FT-IR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) analysis and the water content was determined by Karl Fischer. Biochar, another product of great importance, also known as carbon black, was also characterized by means of elemental analysis, as well as analyzes by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with X-ray Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Physical Adsorption (ASAP/BET), to evaluate the type of material formed, correlating it with the operational conditions. Therefore, the adaptation proposed in this dissertation was successfully performed. The intention of this work was to contribute to the search for alternative and renewable fuels, mainly by making use of the raw material sugarcane bagasse, which is important for Brazil, but which has not been considered in international research with the necessary intensity because this raw material is not abundant in countries of the European Bloc, United States and Japan, countries with a tradition in research in this subject. This research allowed to identify the most favorable operating conditions to develop the process of production of bio-oil and biochar in pilot scale: 500 - 600 °C, 3.1 to 3.5 kg/h of sugarcane bagasse feeding, and 25 - 28 L/min of air flow for bed fluidization. In the simulation of the pyrolysis process, it was possible to verify that milder temperatures and higher pressures favor the production of liquids, and the opposite favors the production of gases. Since the pilot plant does not have devices to change its pressure, the temperature was considered the most significant variable in the products distribution, besides the biomass particle size and its moisture content, and the air flow. This research assists the development of units projects with larger production capacities, with greater productivities and selectivity in the desired products (AU) | |
| FAPESP's process: | 16/18546-8 - Study of operating conditions for production of bio-oil and biochar from sugarcane bagasse through simulation and application in pilot plant |
| Grantee: | Nahieh Toscano Miranda |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Master |