Slow Pyrolysis of Jatropha Seed De-oiled Cake and Estimation of Kinetic Parameters

Abstract

Jatropha seed de-oiled cake is a potential source for the production of valuable hydrocarbons. The pyrolysis of the de-oiled cake yields bio-oils that could have several potential applications for use as fuel/chemicals. In this study the pyrolysis of jatropha seed de-oiled cake was carried out at different temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 °C. The maximum yield of bio-oil at 38.4 wt.% with a conversion of 63 % was obtained at 450 °C. After pyrolysis, these products were characterised using several physico-chemical characterisation techniques such as FT-IR, 1 H NMR, GC-MS, XRD and SEM. From these it was observed that the bio-oil obtained was primarily composed of phenolic compounds and the nature of bio-char indicated the conversion of the components of lignocellulosic biomass. The frequency factor and the activation energy calculated using the first order rate equation was 2.38 s-1 and 5.31 kJ mol-1 respectively. These values are much lower compared to those obtained from thermo-gravimetric analysis measurements indicating good heat and mass transfer in the experimental set up.