Bio-oil applications and processing

Annette Evans*, Vladimir Strezov, Tim J. Evans

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    4 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    When biomass is heated in the absence of oxygen, it produces a pyrolysis liquid (bio-oil or biocrude), char (biocharcoal or biochar) and noncondensable gases (synthetic gas [syngas] or biogas) in various proportions. The resultant bio-oil is a complex and unique mixture of organic compounds and water, closely resembling the elemental composition of the parent biomass. It is a brown, free-flowing, highly oxygenated, dense and viscous polar liquid (Bridgwater 2011). It has a distinctive acrid and smoky odour due to the presence of low molecular weight aldehydes and acids, and can irritate the eyes upon prolonged exposure (Bridgwater 2012). Bio-oil can be considered as a microemulsion, with a continuous phase of an aqueous solution of holocellulose decomposition products that stabilise the discontinuous phase of pyrolytic lignin macromolecules through mechanisms including hydrogen bonding (Bridgwater 2012). Ageing and instability seen in bio-oil is thought to result from the breakdown of this microemulsion (Meier et al. 2013).

    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationBiomass processing technologies
    EditorsVladimir Strezov, Tim J. Evans
    Place of PublicationBoca Raton, FL
    PublisherCRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group
    Pages357-377
    Number of pages21
    ISBN (Electronic)9781482282603
    ISBN (Print)9781466566163
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2015

    Keywords

    • fast pyrolysis
    • biomass
    • fuels
    • conversion
    • liquids

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