EMISSIONS FROM SLOW PYROLYSIS OF SOLID FUELS STUDIED BY GC MS IN A MINIATURE REACTOR/

The effect of fuel structure on emissions must be better known to prom ote cleaner combustion of solid fuels. In commercial combustors initia l slow pyrolysis steps produce emission of numerous possible organic s pecies. Biomass is today also considered for upgrading by pyrolysis to bio-oils. Knowledge of slow pyrolysis processes of coal and biomass i s limited. We have designed a miniature pyrolysis reactor suited for G C/MS analysis. In the evaluation of the approach three distinct solid fuels were investigated: bituminous coal, sawdust from spruce and chip s from eucalyptus. Coal pyrolysis produced high amounts of alkanes, na phthalenes and PAH. Coal also produced alkyl substituted phenols. Sawd ust from spruce produced almost the same species as eucalyptus. Howeve r, the product distributions from spruce- and eucalyptus pyrolysis dif fered. The products from eucalyptus were significantly more substitute d than the products from spruce. The products from wood samples were d ominated by oxygenates: fatty acids, cyclic oxygenates and methoxy sub stituted phenols. The present approach can be used for selecting solid fuels suitable for clean combustion and production of bio-oils.