Thermal Degradation of Different Biomass to Fuel: Optimization of Process Parameters by Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

In the present study, the yield of different pyrolysis products was optimized using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Here, User Defined Model and quadratic programming (QP) have been used to model and optimize the influence of two process parameters like reaction temperature and type of biomasses on the five responses such as oil yield, liquid yield, char yield, gas yield and reaction time using the experimental data obtained from the fast pyrolysis in a semi-batch reactor system. Mathematical model equations are derived for all the responses by using sets of experimental data and analysis of variance (ANOVA). ANOVA analysis showed that the model was very significant for all the responses. From the residual vs. predicted plots, the value of the coefficient of correlation (R2) is found to be a good agreement with the experimental ones. From the optimization study, the liquid, oil, char, and gas yield at the optimum temperature (584C) of seed biomass are found to be 81.34%, 70.12%, 9.8%, and 9.64% respectively.