Small Scale Devices for Production of Biochar - North American Biochar Symposium
Production of biochar from biomass
Transcript of Production of biochar from biomass
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Production of biochar from biomass Iqmat Iyiola1, Deepak Pudasainee1, Md Khan1, Rajender Gupta1
1Department Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta
Key words:biomass, biochar, TGA, proximate analysis, elemental analysis, chemical engineering
Abstract
Biochar is a kind of charcoal that’s produced from biomass using pyrolysis technology. As climate change continues to be a growing concern, biochar has been sought for its environmental applications. It is both cost effective and environmentally sound in terms of being a soil additive and renewable fuel. When used as a soil amendment, biochar has been shown to improve water holding capacity and absorb more nutrients. Biochar also sequesters carbon dioxide when applied to soil, and can also be used as a replacement for activated carbon that is prepared from coal. The objectives of this research was to produce biochar from biomass and study biochar’s properties. A thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) was used to measure the weight loss behavior of the wood sample (biomass) as the temperature increased. The biomass was heated to 500 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere and then cooled in nitrogen to prevent combustion of biochar. The overall yield of biochar was 15%. Elemental analysis of biomass shows the composition of the sample to be mostly carbon and oxygen with fewer amounts of hydrogen and nitrogen. Surface area of the prepared biochar was 305 m2/g, which is approximately 100 times the surface area of raw biomass. Biochar’s higher porosity will allow for greater absorption of nutrients when applied to soil.
Cite as: Iyiola I., Pudasainee D., Khan M., and Gupta R. 2019. Production of biochar from biomass. Alberta Academic Review, Vol 2 (2) 43-44, WISEST Special Issue (not peer-reviewed), DOI 10.29173/aar50.
ISSN 2561-5327 (print)ISSN 2561-5335 (online)
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Iyiola et al., 2019
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1.La
ird, D
. A.,
Bro
wn,
R. C
., A
mon
ette
, J. E
. and
Leh
man
n, J
. (20
09),
Rev
iew
of t
he p
yrol
ysis
plat
form
for c
opro
duci
ng b
io-o
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d bi
ocha
r. B
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wei
ghtl
oss
atdi
ffere
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mpe
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imat
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ield
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ount
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Tabl
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Pro
xim
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Ana
lysi
s (w
eigh
t per
cent
age)
Con
clus
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Sam
ple
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sh
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1 ]
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ar 5
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mog
ravi
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to1-
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Bio
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ddin
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Cha
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hod
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Figu
re7:
Bio
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obta
ined
at50
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cula
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diff
eren
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licat
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ater
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ing
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city
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effe
ctiv
ely
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rbs
both
nutri
ents
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ioch
arca
nbe
used
asa
repl
acem
entf
orth
eac
tivat
edca
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epar
edfro
mco
al(n
on-r
enew
able
reso
urce
)
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ted
at 1
0°C
/min
with
ani
troge
n flo
w o
f 7L/
min
Hea
t to
500°
C
Coo
l usi
ng n
itrog
en