Characterization of high heating rate chars of biomass fuels

Data on biomass chars obtained under conditions similar to those of practical applications (high heating rate and low residence time) are required for co-combustion and gasification plants. A methodological procedure is developed and applied to two biomass fuels (cacao shells and olive cake) for producing high heating rate chars and characterizing their reactivity and morphology after the first steps of devolatilization. Different chars are produced in a drop tube reactor (rapid pyrolysis) by varying the nominal temperature and the residence time. Oxidation in air is performed to compare typical temperatures and kinetic parameters and evaluate the effect of the operating conditions on char reactivity. A detailed SEM analysis allows to assess the structural variations during the pyrolysis and detect the main phenomena (softening, swelling, melting, formation of bubbles). A quantitative morphological study is also performed to provide size and shape (important for biomasses) distributions of the parent fuel and the chars. These data are more significant than average values in advanced model to correctly simulate the fluid dynamic behaviour of each dimensional class of particles in large scale furnaces and gasifiers and predict a more reliable residence time of the particles.