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Journal of Energy Bioscience
12
of 19%, 47%, 12% and 22% (w/w) respectively for
seed cake. Antony et al. (2010) conducted experiments
on Jatropha de oiled cake by using fluidized bed flash
pyrolysis to determine the effects of particle size,
pyrolysis temperature and nitrogen gas flow rate on
the pyrolysis yields. The maximum oil yield of 64.25
wt% including water content was obtained at 500
℃
shown in table 6. The calorific value of pyrolysis oil
collected was found to be 19.66 MJ/kg shown in
Table 7.
Table 6 Yield of pyrolysis component from Jatropha seed cake against temperature (Antony et al., 2010)
S.N.
Pyrolysis temperature (
℃
)
Oil yield (%)
Gas yield (%)
Char yield (%)
1
350
42.15
43.24
14.61
2
400
48.40
40.00
11.60
3
450
53.30
38.81
7.89
4
500
64.25
31.86
3.89
5
550
57.69
40.60
1.71
Table 7 Comparison of properties of Pyrolysis oil with diesel (Antony et al., 2010)
Properties
Diesel
Pyrolysis oil
Effects
Calorific value (MJ/kg)
42.151 19.66
Effects in engine performance
Conradson carbon residue
0.30
14.90
Affect the engine, deposited in injector
Kinematic viscosity at 40
℃
cSt
2.0~4.5 7.4
Effects in pumping, fuel injection
Flash point
℃
80
140
Safety storage. High fire point leading to starting problem
Pour point
2
4
Effects in cold condition
Ash content (%)
0.01~0.1 0.1
Erosion and corrosions
Acidity as mg of KOH/gm
0.20
87.84
Damage to injector, deposits in fuel systems like pump filters etc.
Viboon et al. (2007) carried out fast pyrolysis trials on
Jatropha seed cake waste collected from oil extraction
mill using thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and
quartz tube pyrolyzer and the result indicated that a
rise in temperature had led to increase gas yields from
12.9% to 30.1% with decreasing liquid and char yields
from 23.2% to 13.3% and 63.9% to 56.5%,
respectively. High hydrogen concentration in product
gas was also achieved at high temperature with
reduction of other hydrocarbon gases.
In case of flash pyrolysis experiments on
Pongamia
pinnata
oil cake were done by Raja et al. (2011), at
pyrolysis temperature 500
℃
the maximum oil yield of
54.8 wt % was obtained with nitrogen gas flow rate of
2.0 m
3
/h and particle size of 1.0 mm~1.18 mm. For
the particle size of 0.3 mm to 0.6 mm the maximum
gas yield of 46.0 wt % was obtained with nitrogen
flow rate of 1.75 m
3
/h at 500
℃
. The maximum char
yield of 14.1 wt % was obtained at 400
℃
, particle
size of 1.18 mm~1.4 mm, at nitrogen gas flow rate of
1.25 m
3
/h. The gross calorific value of pyrolysis oil
was found to be 37.45 MJ/Kg.
Literature surveys illustrate that pyrolysis oils in pure
form were not suitable for use in modern diesel
engines. The major factor was its high viscosity, lead
carbon deposits in the combustion chamber and
exhaust ports. Thermo catalytic cracking and
trans-esterification were the techniques used to solve
the problem related to high viscosity. A reduction in
viscosity reduced engine operation problems to a great
extent (Putun et al., 1999). The presence of ash in the
oil could cause erosion and corrosion problems
(Elisabeth, 2004). The high flash point suggested that
the oil could be safely stored at room temperature but
it could led to the starting problems of the engine.
Flash point was important from safety view point; that
temperature should be as high as practical. Pour point
was important for cold weather operation. For
satisfactory working, the value should be well below
freezing point of the oil used. Hence, considering the
persistent problem with pyrolysis oil, it was necessary
to upgrade the pyrolysis oil into good quality vehicle
fuel, but it was not an economically viable option at
present due to production cost would be higher than
conventional vehicle fuel.
Journal of Energy Bioscience