title: Investigation on the evolution of N-containing organic compounds during pyrolysis of sewage sludge.
abstract: Pyrolysis is an emerging technology for the disposal of huge amounts of sewage sludge. However, the thermochemical decomposition mechanism of organic compounds in sludge is still unclear. We adopt a novel online TG-FTIR-MS technology to investigate the pyrolysis of sludge. The sludge samples were pyrolyzed from 150 to 800 °C with heating rates of 10, 50, and 200 K min(-1). We found for the first time that the heating rate of pyrolysis can significantly change the species of liquid organic compounds produced, but cannot change the gaseous species produced under the same conditions. The contents of produced gas and liquid compounds, most of which were produced at 293-383 °C, are influenced by both the heating rate and temperature of pyrolysis. The results also showed that heterocyclic-N, amine-N, and nitrile-N compounds are obtained from the decomposition of N-compounds in sludge, such as pyrrolic-N, protein-N, amine-N, and pyridinic-N. Heterocyclic-N compounds are the dominant N-containing products, which can be due to the thermochemical decomposition of pyridine-N and pyrrole-N, whereas fewer amine-N compounds are produced during the pyrolysis. A mechanism for the decomposition of N-containing compounds in sludge is proposed based on the obtained data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China , Hefei 230026, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Wu-Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Ting-Ting
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.forename: Han-Qing
authors.initials: HQ
authors.lastname: Yu
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000032:analysis*; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000032:analysis*; D056951:Photoelectron Spectroscopy; D012722:Sewage / Q000737:chemistry*; D017550:Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared; D013696:Temperature; D013818:Thermogravimetry
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D012722:Sewage; D009584:Nitrogen