Slow pyrolysis of chinaberry (Melia azedarach L.) seeds: Part I. The influence of pyrolysis parameters on the product yields

In this work, the pyrolysis of chinaberry (Melia azedarach L.) seeds was conducted under different pyrolysis temperatures (350-600 degrees C), particle sizes (1.60-0.250 mm) and sweep gas flow rates (50-400 mL min(-1)) in a fixed-bed reactor with heating rate of 10 degrees C min(-1), and the optimum pyrolysis conditions were determined. The maximum bio-oil yield of 23.38 wt.% was obtained at a pyrolysis temperature of 500 degrees C by using a sweep gas (N-2) flow rate of 100 mL min(-1) with a particle size range of 0.420-0.850 mm. In addition, the chinaberry seeds with two selected catalysts, natural zeolite (clinoptilolite) and alumina were pyrolyzed in a fixed-bed reactor under the determined optimum pyrolysis conditions. The influence of catalysts and their ratio (10%, 20%, 30%, 40% and 50% w/w) on the pyrolysis conversion and product yields were investigated in detail. The results showed that the pyrolysis temperature, sweep gas flow rate and catalyst played more important role than the particle size on the yields of the pyrolysis products.