Nitrogen Migration and Conversion in Chars from Co-Pyrolysis of Lignocellulose Derived Pyrolysis Model Compounds and Urea-Formaldehyde Resin Adhesive

Abstract

In thermal conversion utilization, nitrogen-rich biomass such as waste wood-based panels will release a large amount of NOx into the atmosphere, causing serious harm to the surroundings. By means of co-pyrolysis, N in waste wood-based panels can be fixed in chars instead of discharging into the atmosphere in the form of volatile matter, which can reduce NOx emission and lay a foundation for the preparation of nitrogen-rich carbon materials with high added value. As the most commonly used adhesive in the production of wood-based panels, urea-formaldehyde resin adhesive (UF) is the main nitrogen source in waste wood-based panels. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the effects of glucose, ethyl maltol and 2,5-dimethyl-4-hydroxy-3(2H)-furanone (DMHF) on nitrogen migration and conversion during UF pyrolysis by adjusting the different proportions of model compounds and UF. Thermogravimetric analysis showed that ethyl maltol and DMHF had lower thermal stability and the pyrolysis process was concentrated in the range of 90–168 °C, which does not coincide with the mass loss temperature of UF. UF can promote the pyrolysis of these three model compounds at the initial stage to some extent. The elemental analysis showed that the N retention in co-pyrolysis chars increased in varying degrees with the increase of the addition of model compounds; the nitrogen retention in chars of glucose-UF, ethyl maltol-UF and DMHF-UF increased by 28.47%, 3.48% and 16.45% with the increase of the model compound content from 50% to 90%, respectively. The XPS results showed that the relative content of N-6 in chars increased with the increase of ethyl maltol content, and the relative content of N-5 in chars increased with the increased addition of DMHF. Glucose had little effect on the distribution of N-functional groups in chars.