title: Effects of water washing and torrefaction pretreatments on rice husk pyrolysis by microwave heating.
abstract: The influences of water washing, torrefaction and combined water washing-torrefaction pretreatments on microwave pyrolysis of rice husk samples were investigated. The results indicated that the process of combined water washing-torrefaction pretreatment could effectively remove a large portion of inorganics and improve the fuel characteristics to a certain extent. The gas products were rich in combustible compositions and the syngas quality was improved by pretreatment process. The liquid products contained less moisture content, acids and furans, while more concentrated phenols and sugars from microwave pyrolysis of rice husk after pretreatments, especially after the combined water washing-torrefaction pretreatment. Biochar, produced in high yield, has the alkaline pH (pH 8.2-10.0) and high surface area (S(BET) 157.81-267.84 m(2)/g), they have the potential to be used as soil amendments. It is noteworthy that water washing increased the pore surface area of biochar, but torrefaction reduced the pore surface area.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Shuping
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, China. Electronic address: yqxiong@seu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yuanquan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiong
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
authors.forename: Xinzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China.
authors.forename: Shuguang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D005740:Gases / Q000032:analysis; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008872:Microwaves; D012275:Oryza / Q000737:chemistry*; D016062:Porosity; D014866:Waste Products / Q000032:analysis*; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005740:Gases; D014866:Waste Products; D014867:Water
keywords: Microwave; Pretreatment; Pyrolysis; Torrefaction; Water washing