Thermal Cracking of Karanja de-oiled seed cake on Pyrolysis Reactor for producing Bio-oil with focus on its application in diesel Engine

Abstract

A thermal cracking experiment was conducted on Karanja seed (de-oiled) cake at to determine its potential to be an automotive fuel. Experiment was conducted on a fluidised bed type Pyrolysis reactor. The production parameter such as particle size of de-oiled seed and temperature on the oil yield were studied. Fluidization was achieved with the help of Nitrogen gas that is why Nitrogen gas flow rate was also considered as production parameter. For the study purpose a particular particle size range were used. Similarly the Temperature and Flow rate of Nitrogen range were selected from the initial run data of experiment. After investigating the test data the optimized parameter were found for 65.56 wt % of bio oil. The temperature was 500°C and the particle size was in the range of 0.50-0.99 mm at sweep gas flow rate about 8 LPM for the optimized condition. The pyrolysis oil obtained after condensation can be used as fuel. And by some up-gradation technique like trans-esterification process, bio oil can be made suitable for the today’s engine technology. Non condensable gases were consisting of Hydrogen, Methane, Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Oxygen and Nitrogen as major fractions.