Thermal Processing of Wood Waste

Describes the processes of thermal conversion of soft– and hardwood waste to obtain gaseous, liquid and solid products. During the initial stage of the work, the thermogravimetric study of initial samples of birch and pine sawdust was performed in the temperature range from 35 to 1000 °C. On the basis of the thermal analysis data obtained, a method of pyrolysis process of wood waste in the temperature range of 400–500 °C in an inert environment was developed. As a result of experiments on pyrolysis of wood waste, the dependence of the conversion of selected samples into final products, the properties of the resulting gaseous and solid carbon-containing products depending on the conditions of the process, the size of the fraction and the type of wood were obtained. It was found that the optimal temperature of the pyrolysis process in the studied range of system parameters is 450 °C, and the particle size of wood waste is 1–2 mm. Data on the molecular mass distribution of volatile pyrolysis products and kinetic parameters of the pyrolysis process were obtained. The activation energies of the pyrolysis process for pine and birch sawdust samples were 119.3 and 128.2, respectively. The specific surface area of the initial samples of birch and pine wood waste was 9.3 and 8.5 m2/g, respectively. The specific surface area of coal pyrolysis residues for hardwoods increased by 2.4 times and for conifers by 2.1 times, respectively, and assumed values of 22.3 and 17.9 m2/g. Therefore, the coal residues of pyrolysis of wood waste can potentially be used as raw materials for the production of activated carbons and carbon sorbents of various applications.