Relationship between Initial Moisture Content and the Liquid Yield from Pyrolysis of Sawdust

Abstract

The pyrolysis of sawdust from beech wood results in the production of charcoal, liquid and gaseous products. The yields of liquid products increase with increasing pyrolysis temperature from 575 to 700 K, then decrease with increasing the temperature. The yield of oil increases with increasing the initial moisture content of the sample. The results indicated that the presence of moisture influenced significantly the thermal degradation rate of sawdust pyrolysis. The peak temperatures in pyrolysis were about 691 and 702 K for heating rates of 5 K/min. The liquid yield from pyrolysis of the sawdust with 54.8% moisture was about 33% higher than that in nitrogen stream.