THERMODYNAMIC MODELING AND EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF RICE HUSK PYROLYSIS

Suhas D. Doke, Ganesh R. Kale, Sadanand Y. Guhe

Abstract: Pyrolysis of agricultural waste is a promising route for waste to energy generation. Rice husk is a type of agro-waste that is available in plenty in India. It can be used as feed for pyrolysis to produce different products such as (solid) coke and silica, (liquid) tar and other organics and syngas. HSC Chemistry computer aided code for thermodynamic modeling was used to predict the products of rice-husk pyrolysis in this research study. The pyrolysis of rice husk was carried out between 100-1200°C in the pressure range of 1 – 15 bar. The pyrolysis products predicted by HSC calculations were mainly solid coke, gases like H2, CO2, CO, CH4, with small quantity of aromatic compounds like C6H6, C7H8, C8H10 (ethyl benzene), C8H10 (xylenes) and C6H5 –OH. An experimental study for product validation was also done and the results are presented.

Keywords: Pyrolysis, syngas, HSC Chemistry, aromatic compounds.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2015.0406053