Modelling and simulation of fast pyrolysis of pomace from three-phase olive mill targeting optimal yields of pyrolysis products

Abstract

Biomass can be transformed into useful bioproducts (biofuels, biomaterials) through its thermochemical conversion. This study concerns modeling and simulation of fast pyrolysis of olive pomace from three-phase olive mill using Super Pro Designer (SPD) software, which was selected because of its vast databank of specific chemical compounds as well as specific unit operations specifically designed for modeling and simulation of biological, physical and chemical processes. The simulation was carried out at pyrolysis temperatures ranging from 400 to 675 °C and residence times varying between 0.1 and 15s. Simulation results indicate that fast pyrolysis yielded maximum bio-oil yield of 23.72% at 650 °C and a residence time of 0.1s, and maximum syngas yield of 41.17% at 675 °C and a residence time of 15s. Predicted product yields were in accordance with experimental data collected from the literature, with relative errors in the range of 9%, which may be due to variable feedstock properties. The developed model provides very useful information on olive pomace fast pyrolysis conditions.

STATEMENT OF NOVELTY

With a world production of olive oil amounting to 3,098,500 tons for the 2021/2022 campaign [12], the expected production of olive pomace by extraction by three-phase centrifugation system would be 8,520,875 tons/year. This amount of olive waste poses constraints especially when it is discharged without any treatment into the natural environment due to its high phytotoxicity and antimicrobial properties .The specific solution to solve this problem consists in its thermochemical valorisation by fast pyrolysis which converts large quantities of residues into (biofuels). To our knowledge, until now, the fast pyrolysis of olive pomace has been addressed by only a few authors, and there is no study focused on the modeling and simulation of the fast pyrolysis of olive pomace using the super pro designer simulator. Therefore, in our study, modeling and simulation of olive pomace fast pyrolysis is performed to identify the optimal pyrolysis temperatures and residence times that achieve the highest biofuels yield, with potential applications to optimize the design of pilot and large-scale pyrolysis units.

Keywords:

• Fast pyrolysis
• modelling
• bio-oil
• syngas
• olive pomace
• valorization

Author’s statement

We confirm that the work outlined in this manuscript has not been previously published in part or whole in any journal or magazine for private or public circulation, that there are no plans to publish it elsewhere, that its publication is agreed to by all the authors and tacitly or explicitly by the responsible authorities where the work was done, and that, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, or in any other version, including electronic form, without the written consent of the copyright holder.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Tobias Thomsen and Dr. Ramadhani Bakari for their valuable assistance in the developing of the SPD model.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.