Effect of Electrostatic Precipitator on Collection Efficiency of Bio-oil in Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass

Abstract

Three types of oil-mist traps were evaluated for the efficient collection of bio-oil (tar) aerosol produced in a fast pyrolysis reaction at the laboratory scale. The oil-mist traps employed a cooling method, a solvent method, or an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for collecting the oil mist. If the ESP electrode was energized at 9 kV, almost all of the bio-oil mist was collected by the ESP. The liquid yield of the bio-oil obtained using the three methods decreased in the order: ESP method>solvent method>cooling method. For these experiments, biomass samples of Jatropha cake and cedar, sieved to yield a powder (300-500 μm), were pyrolyzed at 500 °C in a fluidized-bed reactor. Although the solvent method showed a relatively high collection efficiency, it was necessary to separate the bio-oil from the solvent. Therefore, the ESP method is the most effective method for collecting bio-oil.