Development of Pyrolysis-Gas Chromatograph/Multi-detector

Abstract

A high-throughput evaluation technique for screening pyrolysis conditions is highly desired for the early-stage development of pyrolysis processes for chemical feedstock recovery from waste plastics and biomass resources. In this work, we developed a pyrolyzer-gas chromatograph/multi-detector (Py-GC/multi-detector) system equipped with a pyrolyzer, GC, two columns, detectors such as MS, FID, and TCD, and a methanizer. The developed Py-GC/multi-detector allowed pyrolysis experiments in the pyrolyzer, separation of the pyrolyzates by the GC, and identification and quantification of pyrolyzates in sequence. The obtained pyrolyzates distributions were compared with those obtained from an offline tube reactor that showed a slower heating rate and longer retention time of the pyrolyzates in the heating zone. The comparison revealed that the Py-GC/multi-detector was excellent in the evaluation of pyrolyzates obtained under rapid heating and the early-stage pyrolysis reactions, and the Py-GC/multi-detector allowed rapid and easy analysis of pyrolysis reactions of plastics and biomass.