Stabilization and Aging Studies of Babul Wood Vacuum Pyrolysis Oil as a Potential Biomass Energy Source

Abstract

In the present study, Babul wood biomass was considered as case study which is a highly reactive feedstock for pyrolysis and abundant in India. Vacuum pyrolysis of babul wood produce a bio-oil result in pH of 2.3, moisture content of 26.3 wt% due to which viscosity at room temperature was 73.6 cP. Chemical characterization reveals that the composition of bio-oil contains carboxylic acid (~5 wt%), carbonyl group (~2 wt%), furfurals (~2 wt%), phenols (~3 wt%) in major quantity. Aging studies of crude bio-oil had observed that moisture content and viscosity increase with time simultaneously phase separation occurred during the storage at room temperature. Stabilization of bio-oil was carried out to remove to improve the shelf life of bio-oil. After stabilization bio-oil was found to be stable in all properties throughout the study of 60 days at room temperature conditions.