Volatile-char interactions during co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge and poplar wood

Pyrolysis is a thermo-chemical conversion method for harmless and resource utilization of sewage sludge, which gives carbon-containing products with high added value and benefits for GHG reduction towards “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality” goals. In this work, co-pyrolysis of sewage sludge and poplar wood was studied to investigate the effects of the wood blend ratio and the volatile-char interactions on the pyrolysis product characteristics. It was found that the synergistic effect during co-pyrolysis could enhance the production of aromatic hydrocarbons but inhibit the formation of nitrogen-containing and phenolic compounds. Meanwhile, the aromaticity of the char increased with increasing the wood blend ratio, resulting in an enhanced quality of the char. The volatile-char interactions could facilitate the cracking of large molecules in volatiles into small-molecule gases, leading to an increase in the gas yield of 0.6–14.6 %, and especially the H₂ yield of 16.2–53.8 %, as compared to the case without interaction in the experiment. The char yields hold fairly constant but the physicochemical structure of the char changed significantly with the interactions. Specifically, the O-containing functional groups on the char surface decreased significantly with increasing aromaticity and stability. More importantly, the total phosphorus content of char was increased by 11.3–33.6 %, as compared to the case without interaction, with the enhanced conversion of non-hydroxyapatite phosphorus to hydroxyapatite phosphorus. The interaction can increase bio-availability of the phosphorus and make biochar to be a better organic fertilizer in application.