Abstract
The influence of temperature (550–850°C) on the characteristics of bio-oil and biochar from the pyrolysis of sewage sludge (SS) in a horizontal tube reactor was investigated. Results showed that when the pyrolysis temperature increased from 550°C to 850°C, the yield of bio-oil decreased from 26.16% (dry ash-free basis) to 20.78% (dry ash-free basis). Main components of bio-oil were phenols, esters, cholests, ketones, amides, indoles, and nitriles. Besides, the elevated heating rate of 25°C/min was demonstrated to favour the complete combustion of bio-oil. Moreover, caused by the increase in temperature, the yield of biochar decreased from 54.9 to 50.6wt%, Brunauer–Emmet–Teller surface area increased from 48.51 to 81.28 m2/g. Furthermore, pH was increased from 5.93 of SS to 7.15–8.96 of biochar. The negative ζ-potential was also strengthened (−13.87 to −11.30 mV) and principal functional groups on the surface of biochar were –OH, C=O, C=C, –NO2, and S=O.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Hunan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (11JJ2032), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0169), The Scientific and Technological Project of Hunan Province in China (2013FJ4040), and the Scientific Research Foundation for Returned Scholars.