NICC 2021 - Optimization of Wood Charcoal Manufacture through Destructive Distillation (Pyrolysis)

Описание: Group Name: Auric Ore Academy
Members: Bryan Wilson, Tan Lip Wei, Alif Danial
Advisors: Ms Diyan & Mdm Izni
Institution: Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Due to the industrialization and the increase in concentration of poisonous gases in the environment the air is getting more and more toxic day by day. Air pollution occurs from burning of the energy sources, wood, which has been a major problem. Charcoal with a higher content of heat produced by strongly heating wood in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents is introduced to replace the wood with a more clean source of heat. Pyrolysis is a process of chemically decomposing organic materials at elevated temperatures in the absence of oxygen. The process typically occurs at temperatures above 430 °C (800 °F) and under pressure which is one of the best methods for charcoal production. However, still, the charcoal production requires a longer and slower process time, plus the efficiency rate (15%-20%) is quite low, causing a higher deforestation rate, especially in traditional charcoal-making methods. Compared to pyrolysis in dynamic conditions, the complete decomposition of cellulose under isothermal conditions requires a relatively longer thermal degradation time, especially at the temperature near the lower limit of pyrolysis.The addition of Zeolite as a catalyst, ZSM-5 will lower the activation energy. With the lower activation energy, rate constant will be higher, shorter thermal degradation time and the higher the reaction rate. Based on the Le Chatelier's principle, increasing temperature, the equilibrium shifts to the right (product) and K increases.Thus, heating rate will increase during the pyrolysis, more energetic collision between particles and increase the reaction rate. However, higher temperature during pyrolysis will lead to a lower charcoal yield, which will consume a large amount of wood for the manufacture, causing a higher rate of deforestation. Thus, to overcome the bad consequences, the reaction can be optimized with a specific pressure that will reduce the requirement of heat energy for the pyrolysis. Based on Le Chatelier's principle, higher pressure will have a higher rate of collision, hence a higher pyrolysis rate.