Pyrolysis of pine (Pinus Brutia Ten.) chips:: 1.: Effect of pyrolysis temperature and heating rate on the product yields

In this work, bark-free chips of Turkish red pine (Pinus Brutia Ten.) were pyrolyzed in a laboratory-scale fixed bed reactor. The influence of final pyrolysis temperature, heating rate, and pyrolysis atmosphere on the product yields were investigated. Pyrolysis runs were performed using reactor temperatures ranging between 300 and 550degreesC with heating rates of 7 and 40degreesC/ min. The char, gas, and liquid yield obtained ranged between 23 and 36 wt%, 11 and 23 wt%, and 21 and 30 wt%, respectively, at different pyrolysis conditions. The highest liquid yield was obtained at 500degreesC pyrolysis temperature with a heating rate of 40degreesC/ min and the sweep gas flow rate of 50 cm(3)/min. The results from the pyrolysis of pine chips showed that the clear increments of the pyrolysis conversion in the temperature interval 450 to 500degreesC is due to the rapid devolatilization of cellulose and hemicellulose.