Catalytic application to biomass pyrolysis in a fixed bed reactor

Chinese rice straw and sawdust were pyrolyzed at 1 atm fixed bed reactor. The final product distribution of the pyrolysis process and gas composition was presented, with emphasis on the effect of catalysts on the pyrolytic gas yield. The batch pyrolysis reactor was not optimized for pyrolytic gas production, but different types of catalysts could compensate for this shortage because catalysts perform positive influences on the pyrolytic gas yield. The catalyst load was sensitive to the pyrolytic gas production. A CaO catalyst load of 0.3 kg/kg rice straw feed was most favorable for H₂ production. This could be encouraging to us because H₂ is a clean and highly efficient energy source.