Pyrolysis Research

High-quality bio-oil and biochar using a novel, microwave-assisted, catalytic pyrolysis technology with multi-stage technologies:

From left: Dr. Xiaotao Bi, director of the UBC Biorefining Research and Innovation Centre; Alexandre Babin, CHBE PhD Candidate; Dr. Mohammad Shanb Ghazani, CHBE Postdoctoral Research Fellow

In bio-oil/biochar productions process, the low quality of bio-oil and biochar imposes challenges in upgrading and its application.

Specifically, the high oxygen content in bio-oil consumes large amounts of hydrogen in upgrading operations, which accounts for more than 66% of total greenhouse gas emissions over the whole liquid biofuel supply chain associated with hydrogen production from fossil fuels. The poor quality of biochar also surrenders its use as fertilizer for soil applications and as a reducing agent in metallurgical processes.

The proposed CFI project is to build a pilot-scale, microwave-assisted, fluidized bed plug flow reactor so as to enable further development of a novel, two-stage, pulsating, fluidized bed, microwave-assisted catalytic pyrolysis process for demonstration and commercialization in the near future. In the novel reactor, biomass is torrefied at 250-300°C in the first stage (mild pyrolysis), followed by catalytic pyrolysis at 450-500°C in the second stage, with microwave-assisted heating using various biomass samples in combination with catalysts developed in our lab. The integration of these two reactors is a key component of this part of the study. Targeted products include high-quality bio-oil, high-quality biochar, and torrefied biomass as an intermediate product.

Contact Information: Dr. Xiaotao (Tony) Bi, BRIC Director. tony.bi@ubc.ca