Fluidized-bed pyrolysis of waste bamboo

Bamboo was a popular material substituting for wood, especially for one-off commodity in China. In order to recover energy and materials from waste bamboo, the basic characteristics of bamboo pyrolysis were studied by a thermogravimetric analyzer. It implied that the reaction began at 190～210 ℃, and the percentage of solid product deceased from about 25% to 17% when temperature ranged from 400 ℃ to 700 ℃. A lab-scale fluidized-bed furnace was setup to research the detailed properties of gaseous, liquid and solid products respectively. When temperature increased from 400 ℃ to 700 ℃, the mass percent of solid product decreased from 27% to 17% approximately, while that of syngas rose up from 19% to 35%. When temperature was about 500℃, the percentage of tar reached the top, about 31%. The mass balance of these experiments was about 93%～95%. It indicated that three reactions involved in the process: pyrolysis of exterior bamboo, pyrolysis of interior bamboo and secondary pyrolysis of heavy tar.