Flash Pyrolysis

Calliban · 2021-11-12 19:07:15

An interesting technology that involves heating biomass at rates of 1000°C/s. Under such conditions, up to 70% of the dry mass is converted into combusible liquids, with only about 20% left as char.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/ch … -pyrolysis

Such a technology would be very useful on Earth and on Mars. We could actually use an electric furnace to decompose the biomass. To do this, mix finely chopped biomass with biochar. The mixed material is fed into a hopper. The material passes through the electric furnace quickly. As it does, rotating magnetic fields induce eddy currents in the charcoal grains, rapidly heating them to thousands of degrees. The charcoal grains then heat the surrounding biomass particles to several hundred degree Celsius by radiation. The spent char and ash then falls in a pit, which would contain an inlet to a condenser, allowing the liquids to condense and creating a pressure drop that draws gas and vapour into the condenser.

The whole assembly would be hour-glass shaped, with the hopper on top and the electric furnace in the middle. Spent char would be ground into powder and remixed with feedstock entering the reactor. These units could be built on farms, allowing farmers to produce their own fuel and sell it for profit.

louis · 2021-11-12 19:25:10

So there's no free fuel as with solar or wind...just very good efficiency in terms of combustion?

I think the first priority for farming on Mars would be food. Whether biofuels might prove useful on Mars remains to be seen.There is the issue on Mars that you don't have air-oxygen freely available to burn the fuel. So there is a cost to that - but that might work in harmony with plant agriculture.

Calliban wrote:

An interesting technology that involves heating biomass at rates of 1000°C/s. Under such conditions, up to 70% of the dry mass is converted into combusible liquids, with only about 20% left as char.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/ch … -pyrolysis
Such a technology would be very useful on Earth and on Mars. We could actually use an electric furnace to decompose the biomass. To do this, mix finely chopped biomass with biochar. The mixed material is fed into a hopper. The material passes through the electric furnace quickly. As it does, rotating magnetic fields induce eddy currents in the charcoal grains, rapidly heating them to thousands of degrees. The charcoal grains then heat the surrounding biomass particles to several hundred degree Celsius by radiation. The spent char and ash then falls in a pit, which would contain an inlet to a condenser, allowing the liquids to condense and creating a pressure drop that draws gas and vapour into the condenser.
The whole assembly would be hour-glass shaped, with the hopper on top and the electric furnace in the middle. Spent char would be ground into powder and remixed with feedstock entering the reactor. These units could be built on farms, allowing farmers to produce their own fuel and sell it for profit.

tahanson43206 · 2021-11-12 19:31:43

For Calliban re new topic ...

Best wishes for success with this new topic.

It strikes a chord with me, because it represents an effective way to deal with biological waste, including infectious agents.

SearchTerm:Pyrolysis

(th)

SpaceNut · 2021-11-12 19:36:19

The bio fuel is created from the waste stream of packaging and anything else that is not eaten.
Its a starter for making methane since its already at atmospheric pressure...

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-01 17:51:08

in another topic, Calliban has renewed the subject of this Topic:

Calliban wrote:

We have discussed this before, but I bring it up again.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/ch … -pyrolysis
'Flash pyrolysis (sometimes called very fast pyrolysis), characterized by rapid heating rates (>1000 °C/s) and high reaction temperatures (900–1300 °C), has been shown to afford high yields of bio-oil with low resulting water content and conversion efficiencies of up to 70% [29,30]. The residence times used are even shorter than those of fast pyrolysis, typically less than 0.5 s. To obtain such high heating and heat transfer rates, the biomass feedstock particle size must be as small as is practically possible, usually around 105–250 μm (60–140 mesh size)'
Fast pyrolysis may convert any woody biomass into oil. However, the oil must then be hydrogenated to remove oxygen. If this is not done, the oil polymerises and becomes a sticky tar. So this is a process that requires a supplemental energy source. Wind power would work well, because biomass will be harvested in late summer or early autumn. Wind power provides most energy in autumn, winter and early spring. It arrives at the right time of year to be useful. Harvested biomass will be stored in sheds or large piles. We would feed it into a chipper that would grind it into pieces no larger than a 0.1-0.25mm (1/100"). It is then tipped into a hopper with recycled char and passes through a hot zone where it is rapidly heated via induction. Most of the mass of the biomass forms oil vapours which are collected. The harvested oil then enters a chemical reactor, where hydrogen is passed through it. This removes oxygen from the oil, producing a lighter saturated oil that seperates by gravity. Water is continuously removed from the bottom of the reactor.
Wind power provides the energy for handling of the biomass and grinding (mechanical), fast pyrolysis (electrical heating) and hydrogenation (electrolytic hydrogen). The resulting oil can be burned for heat or blended with other oils to produce diesel. As a light saturated oil, it is also suitable for underground storage and transportation by pipeline.

(th)

tahanson43206 · 2023-01-01 17:52:47

For Calliban re Flash Pyrolysis ...

Is this process in use anywhere on Earth?

It seems (to me at least) like a lot of work, but with a desirable result.

Is this a technology waiting for the right moment to fit into the economy?

(th)

SpaceNut · 2023-01-01 19:39:10

The chamber and materials inputted into it is relative to outcome of the heating process.

Wonder what companies were out there already doing this and here is the Top pyrolysis Companies

plus, these pyrolysis Companies in USA

and more Plastic Pyrolysis Companies (Waste and Recycling)

yet we only make use of 6% of all returned plastics as a part of recycling?

https://goodrichmagma.com/wp-content/up … -plant.pdf

This is the one I was aware of in that article
Pyrolysis of Plastics to Oil

The process occurs under pressure at temperatures that are above 430°C (800°F).
There are three different types of pyrolysis: slow, fast, and flash. While slow pyrolysis will minimize the oil produced by modifying solid material, fast and flash pyrolysis create a maximum amount of oil and gas.
The big differences between the three are the temperatures used, the residence time, and the rate of heat. Slow pyrolysis is heated at a medium-high temperature (400-500°C), a longer time of residence (5-30 minutes), and a lower heating rate (10°C).
Fast pyrolysis occurs at a slightly higher temperature (400-650°C), a much shorter residence time (0.5-2 seconds), and a higher heating rate (100°C).
Finally, flash pyrolysis is heated at an even higher temperature (700-1,000°C), with a residence time of 0.5 seconds or less, at a much higher heating rate that exceeds 500°C.

SpaceNut · 2023-01-12 20:23:12

It appears that lower temperatures can breakdown plastics when adding in extra co, using membranes and catalysts and power to polarize the reactions in a chamber.
Groundbreaking process powered by the sun converts plastic and CO2 into fuel

The solar-drive conversion of carbon dioxide and plastics into useful products “provides a potential sustainable route towards a circular economy,” write chemistry professor Erwin Reisner and colleagues in a paper published in the journal Nature Synthesis. But doing this conversion simultaneously in an integrated process has been challenging.
Researchers have been focusing on developing catalysts to easily and efficiently convert captured carbon dioxide emissions into plastics and fuels. And there have been reports of ways to turn plastic waste into sustainable fuels using various techniques, including some powered by light.
The Cambridge team developed a solar-powered reactor that can convert both waste streams into useful chemical products at the same time. The reactor has two compartments, separated by a membrane, with an electrode on either side. On the negative electrode, carbon dioxide is converted into different carbon-based fuels such as carbon monoxide or formate.
At the positive electrode, meanwhile, plastic from discarded sparkling water bottles is converted to glycolic acid, a chemical that is used in the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. The researchers first clean and chop the bottles into pieces, dip them in liquid nitrogen, and then pulverize them in a grinder.

AA16fWCw.img?w=1920&h=1080&q=60&m=2&f=jpg

We have talked about the solar panel ingredient in

The perovskite-based photocathode enables

but that is just the electrical power. That power as I indicated allows for electrolysis power

the integration of different CO2-reduction catalysts such as a molecular cobalt porphyrin, a Cu91In9 alloy and formate dehydrogenase enzyme, which produce CO, syngas and formate, respectively. The Cu27Pd73 alloy anode selectively reforms polyethylene terephthalate plastics into glycolate in alkaline solution. The overall single-light-absorber photoelectrochemical system operates with the help of an internal chemical bias and under zero applied voltage. The system performs similarly to bias-free, dual-light absorber tandems and shows about 10‒100-fold higher production rates than those of photocatalytic suspension processes.

Calliban · 2023-06-05 17:49:33

Charcoal can be compressed into dense bricks. Charcoal produced from wood has about 75% of the mass energy density of diesel fuel. But almost any plant based biomass can be used to produce char, that can be compressed into charcoal bricks.
https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/foss … _1298.html

This puts me in mind of wood gas vehicles used during the great depression, during the world wars and in countries with restricted access to oil products. Wood gas burners were cumbersome, the fuel gas severely limited engine power and they tended to go out if the car stopped. One of the problems is that wood cannot be held at very high temperature without pyrolysis. So keeping the boiler alight means maintaining smoldering, even if the vehicle has stopped and the engine no longer provides suction. Charcoal is a much better option. It has superior energy density to wood and it can be held at high temperatures in an insulated retort for many hours, without any pyrolsis or thermal breakdown. Fuel gas can be produced by drawing air and water into the retort, where they are reduced on the hot carbon to a mixture of CO and H2, which can be burned in an engine.

Where I think this could be most useful is for long-distance trucking, trains, buses, coaches, ships and maybe even aircraft. In these cases, we would load an insulated retort with enough charcoal for the journey and heat it, either electrically or using stored gas. Drawing air and water vapour into the retort at a steady rate would release enough heat to maintain its temperature. The charcoal is kept hot, so that any air drawn into the retort by suction from the engines, will immiediately react with the hot carbon to produce a CO rich syngas.

To produce charcoal, we load biomass material into a sealed retort and heat it. Pyrolysis drives off gases and vapours, which can be burned to produce electricity and heat. We could use entirely solar heat or wind based electricity to drive pyrolsis. Wind might be especially useful, because biomass is harvested in the autumn, with the highest wind speeds in late autumn, winter and early spring. Biomass could be loaded into large brick lined retorts at the beginning of autumn. The retorts would be covered in thick soil berms for insulation. Excess autumn and winter wind based electricity would then be used to heat the stores, driving pyrolysis. Following a length cooldown, the charcoal in the stores would be unloaded in summer, ready for a new batch of biomass to be loaded in the autumn. Charcoal would be seperated from ash using a blower and compressed into dense pellets for vehicle fuel.

Last edited by Calliban (2023-06-05 17:55:38)

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#1 2021-11-12 19:07:15

Flash Pyrolysis

#2 2021-11-12 19:25:10

Re: Flash Pyrolysis

#3 2021-11-12 19:31:43

Re: Flash Pyrolysis

#4 2021-11-12 19:36:19

Re: Flash Pyrolysis

#5 2023-01-01 17:51:08

Re: Flash Pyrolysis

#6 2023-01-01 17:52:47

Re: Flash Pyrolysis

#7 2023-01-01 19:39:10

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#8 2023-01-12 20:23:12

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