Producing Bio-oil from Olive Cake by Fast Pyrolysis

Abstract

This article reports on physico-chemical properties of olive cakes to evaluate them as a raw material in energy production through thermo-chemical pyrolysis conversion process. The present study focuses on the actions related to the possibilities to utilize in particularly olive cake as an agricultural residue. Olive cake is a very promising material for the production of bio-oil. Liquid, solid, and gaseous products were obtained from olive cake by pyrolysis. If the purpose were to maximize the yield of liquid products resulting from biomass pyrolysis, a low temperature, high heating rate, and short gas residence time process would be required. Flash pyrolysis gives high oil yields. The heating was carried out from 298 K to 1,050 K in the absence of oxygen. The yields of liquid products were obtained from the olive cake by pyrolysis for the runs of different heating rates: 10 K/s, 20 K/s, and 40 K/s. The highest bio-oil yields from the olive cakes were 31.0% at 700 K, 36.0% at 700 K, and 41.0% at 700 K obtained from 10 K/s, 20 K/s, and 40 K/s heating rate runs, respectively. The highest bio-oil yields olive stone shells were 27.0% at 700 K, 31.0% at 700 K, and 34.5% at 750 K obtained from 10 K/s, 20 K/s, and 40 K/s heating rate runs, respectively.