Thermal Treatment of Biomass Waste of Rice Straw via the Combined Radio-frequency Plasma and Catalytic Process
Date Issued
2009
Date
2009
Author(s)
Tu, Wen-Kai
Abstract
Bioenergy from biomass has a potential to provide a significant portion of the projected renewable energy provisions for the shortage of the oil. Among the available biomass wasrtes, rice straw is one of the favorable bioenergy sources, because it is the residue from the end use of the biomass products. The reutilization of rice straw not only saves the cost of disposal but also produces valuable bioenergy, achieving the goal of resources recovery and reuse. In Taiwan, rice is one of the principal foods and the total annual generation of rice straw is about 1.4 million tons. ransform of the biomass wastes into bioenergy can be efficiently achieved applying thermochemical methods such as pyrolysis and gasification. Two main disadvantages of the pyrolysis and gasification of biomass wastes for producing gases of medium calorific value via the traditional thermolysis technology are (1) the low gas yield, reducing the total energy value of gas and (2) the high content of tar in gas, causing the corroding problem of the gas collection equipment and increasing the need for the further treatment of the gas produced.pplication of a novel heating method via the radio frequency (RF) plasma is one of the feasible choices for overcoming the disadvantages of thermolysis using traditional heating methods. The heating method using RF has many advantages such as high heating rate, short heating time to reach setting temperature, low heat loss and low residual tar. Hence, this novel method can overcome the problems encountered in the traditional pyrolysis of biomass. Low tar content in product obtained from RF plasma thermolysis also can be achieved because high energy species, such as electron, ion, atom and free radical, produced from RF plasma can enhance the decomposition of tar. According to the references, adding the suitable catalysts in the pyrolysis of biomass is helpful for improving the thermolysis of biomass, enhancing the decomposition of tar and modifying the gas products.n this study, the RF plasma thermolysis reactor was used for pyrolyzing the biomass waste of rice straw. The application of RF plasma combined with various catalysts of K2CO3, NiO/CaO-Al2O3 and Fe2O3-Cr2O3 was studied. The results indicate that the uses of the said three catalysts can improve the conversion of pyrolysis, yield of H2 and yield of CH4, respectively. The effects of some major system parameters on the performance of the pyrolysis of rice straw via RF plasma were studied and elucidated. The kinetic model employed to describe the pyrolytic conversion of rice straw at various loading powers agrees well with the experimental data. In addition, a multi-stage RF plasma treatment process for rice straw pyrolysis was presented and discussed.he data and information obtained are useful for the rational design and operation of pyrolysis of rice straw via RF plasma.
Subjects
Biomass waste
Bioenergy
Radio frequency
Plasma
Rice straw
Pyrolysis
SDGs
Type
thesis
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