IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i24p8457-d702702.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Slow Pyrolysis as a Method for Biochar Production from Carob Waste: Process Investigation and Products’ Characterization

Author

Listed:
  • Marco Maniscalco

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Giulia Infurna

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Giuseppe Caputo

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Luigi Botta

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

  • Nadka Tz. Dintcheva

    (Dipartimento di Ingegneria, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)

Abstract

The zero-waste city challenge of the modern society is inevitably addressed to the development of model’s waste-to-energy. In this work, carob waste, largely used in the agro-industrial sector for sugar extraction or locust beangum (LBG) production, is considered as feedstock for the slow pyrolysis process. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in 2012, the world production of carobs was ca. 160,000 tons, mainly concentrated in the Mediterranean area (Spain, Italy, Morocco, Portugal, and Greece). To evaluate the biomass composition, at first, the carob waste was subjected to thermo-gravimetric analysis. The high content of fixed carbon suggests that carobs are a plausible candidate for pyrolysis conversion to biochar particles. The thermal degradation of the carob waste proceeds by four different steps related to the water and volatile substances’ removal, degradation of hemicellulose, lignin and cellulose degradation, and lignin decomposition. Considering this, the slow pyrolysis was carried out at three different temperatures, specifically, at 280, 340, and 400 °C, and the obtained products were characterized. Varying the processing temperature, the proportion of individual products’ changes with a reduction in the solid phase and an increase in liquid and gas phases, with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature. The obtained results suggest that carob waste can be considered a suitable feedstock for biochar production, rather than for fuels’ recovery.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Maniscalco & Giulia Infurna & Giuseppe Caputo & Luigi Botta & Nadka Tz. Dintcheva, 2021. "Slow Pyrolysis as a Method for Biochar Production from Carob Waste: Process Investigation and Products’ Characterization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(24), pages 1-9, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8457-:d:702702
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8457/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/24/8457/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Al Arni, Saleh, 2018. "Comparison of slow and fast pyrolysis for converting biomass into fuel," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 197-201.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Long Zhang & Wuliyasu Bai & Jingzheng Ren, 2023. "Waste-to-Energy: A Midas Touch for Turning Waste into Energy," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-5, February.
    2. Fernanda Paula da Costa Assunção & Diogo Oliveira Pereira & Jéssica Cristina Conte da Silva & Jorge Fernando Hungria Ferreira & Kelly Christina Alves Bezerra & Lucas Pinto Bernar & Caio Campos Ferreir, 2022. "A Systematic Approach to Thermochemical Treatment of Municipal Household Solid Waste into Valuable Products: Analysis of Routes, Gravimetric Analysis, Pre-Treatment of Solid Mixtures, Thermochemical P," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-30, October.
    3. Małgorzata Sieradzka & Agata Mlonka-Mędrala & Izabela Kalemba-Rec & Markus Reinmöller & Felix Küster & Wojciech Kalawa & Aneta Magdziarz, 2022. "Evaluation of Physical and Chemical Properties of Residue from Gasification of Biomass Wastes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-19, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. José Juan Alvarado-Flores & Jorge Víctor Alcaraz-Vera & María Liliana Ávalos-Rodríguez & Erandini Guzmán-Mejía & José Guadalupe Rutiaga-Quiñones & Luís Fernando Pintor-Ibarra & Santiago José Guevara-M, 2024. "Thermochemical Production of Hydrogen from Biomass: Pyrolysis and Gasification," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(2), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Zhang, Zhikun & Zhu, Zongyuan & Shen, Boxiong & Liu, Lina, 2019. "Insights into biochar and hydrochar production and applications: A review," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 581-598.
    3. Zhao, Ming & Memon, Muhammad Zaki & Ji, Guozhao & Yang, Xiaoxiao & Vuppaladadiyam, Arun K. & Song, Yinqiang & Raheem, Abdul & Li, Jinhui & Wang, Wei & Zhou, Hui, 2020. "Alkali metal bifunctional catalyst-sorbents enabled biomass pyrolysis for enhanced hydrogen production," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 168-175.
    4. Li, Mengzhu & Wei, Junnan & Yan, Guihua & Liu, Huai & Tang, Xing & Sun, Yong & Zeng, Xianhai & Lei, Tingzhou & Lin, Lu, 2020. "Cascade conversion of furfural to fuel bioadditive ethyl levulinate over bifunctional zirconium-based catalysts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(P1), pages 916-923.
    5. Gupta, Shubhi & Gupta, Goutam Kishore & Mondal, Monoj Kumar, 2019. "Slow pyrolysis of chemically treated walnut shell for valuable products: Effect of process parameters and in-depth product analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 665-676.
    6. Andrew N. Amenaghawon & Chinedu L. Anyalewechi & Charity O. Okieimen & Heri Septya Kusuma, 2021. "Biomass pyrolysis technologies for value-added products: a state-of-the-art review," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(10), pages 14324-14378, October.
    7. Lech Nowicki & Dorota Siuta & Maciej Markowski, 2020. "Pyrolysis of Rapeseed Oil Press Cake and Steam Gasification of Solid Residues," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-12, August.
    8. John Steven Devia-Orjuela & Christian E Alvarez-Pugliese & Dayana Donneys-Victoria & Nilson Marriaga Cabrales & Luz Edith Barba Ho & Balazs Brém & Anca Sauciuc & Emese Gál & Douglas Espin & Martin Sch, 2019. "Evaluation of Press Mud, Vinasse Powder and Extraction Sludge with Ethanol in a Pyrolysis Process," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-21, October.
    9. Gupta, Ankita & Mahajani, Sanjay, 2020. "Kinetic studies in pyrolysis of garden waste in the context of downdraft gasification: Experiments and modeling," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    10. Nokuthula Khanyile & Ndumiso Dlamini & Absalom Masenya & Nothando Clementine Madlala & Sabelo Shezi, 2024. "Preparation of Biofertilizers from Banana Peels: Their Impact on Soil and Crop Enhancement," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-24, October.
    11. Andromachi Chasioti & Anastasia Zabaniotou, 2024. "An Industrial Perspective for Sustainable Polypropylene Plastic Waste Management via Catalytic Pyrolysis—A Technical Report," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-20, July.
    12. Zhang, Xin & Deng, Honghu & Hou, Xueyi & Qiu, Rongliang & Chen, Zhihua, 2019. "Pyrolytic behavior and kinetic of wood sawdust at isothermal and non-isothermal conditions," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 284-294.
    13. Radhakrishnan, Rokesh & Patra, Pradipta & Das, Manali & Ghosh, Amit, 2021. "Recent advancements in the ionic liquid mediated lignin valorization for the production of renewable materials and value-added chemicals," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    14. Aan Mohammad Nusrat Aman & Anurita Selvarajoo & Teck Leong Lau & Wei-Hsin Chen, 2022. "Biochar as Cement Replacement to Enhance Concrete Composite Properties: A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-20, October.
    15. Lech Nowicki & Dorota Siuta & Maciej Markowski, 2020. "Carbon Dioxide Gasification Kinetics of Char from Rapeseed Oil Press Cake," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-12, May.
    16. Zhu, Haodong & Yi, Baojun & Hu, Hongyun & Fan, Qizhou & Wang, Hao & Yao, Hong, 2021. "The effects of char and potassium on the fast pyrolysis behaviors of biomass in an infrared-heating condition," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    17. Tokmurzin, Diyar & Kuspangaliyeva, Botagoz & Aimbetov, Berik & Abylkhani, Bexultan & Inglezakis, Vassilis & Anthony, Edward J. & Sarbassov, Yerbol, 2020. "Characterization of solid char produced from pyrolysis of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste, high volatile coal and their blends," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    18. Mika Pahnila & Aki Koskela & Petri Sulasalmi & Timo Fabritius, 2023. "A Review of Pyrolysis Technologies and the Effect of Process Parameters on Biocarbon Properties," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-27, October.
    19. María González-Lucas & Manuel Peinado & Juan J. Vaquero & Leonor Nozal & Juan Luis Aguirre & Sergio González-Egido, 2022. "Microwave-Assisted Pyrolysis of Leather Waste," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.
    20. Torres, Erick & Rodriguez-Ortiz, Leandro A. & Zalazar, Daniela & Echegaray, Marcelo & Rodriguez, Rosa & Zhang, Huili & Mazza, Germán, 2020. "4-E (environmental, economic, energetic and exergetic) analysis of slow pyrolysis of lignocellulosic waste," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 296-307.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:24:p:8457-:d:702702. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.