Title

TURNING BIOMASS INTO METALLURGICAL CHARCOAL THROUGH A NEW CLEAN CARBONIZATION PROCESS

TURNING BIOMASS INTO METALLURGICAL CHARCOAL THROUGH A NEW CLEAN CARBONIZATION PROCESS

Authorship

LÚCIO, ÁLVARO; SAMPAIO, RONALDO SANTOS

LÚCIO, ÁLVARO

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SAMPAIO, RONALDO SANTOS

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DOI

10.5151/2594-357x-34Red-1133-1146

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Abstract

This paper outlines the DPC process as an economic and environment friendly option for the use of cultivated biomass, as a source of energy and metallurgical charcoal. It also demonstrated ways to use biomass in the coke base Blast Furnace technology in order to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve hot metal metallurgical properties through the use of charcoal injection as a substitute of coal. Brazil is the world greatest charcoal producer with an average annual production of 2.3 millions of metric tons. This production is only a small fraction of the actual potential to produce charcoal from cultivated biomass and agricultural crop wastes. The DPC process was specially developed to bring logistic, environmental, technical, economic and global energy efficiency when compared to most of the existing biomass carbonization processes. The DPC process encompasses the following main advantages: 1 – Utilizes the volatile materials (condensable and non-condensable) as a source of energy required by the carbonization process guaranteeing its complete combustion; 2 – The gases emitted during the pyrolysis step are used as a heat carrier for the endothermic stage of the pyrolysis. As a result the DPC process obtains a higher charcoal to biomass yield, and avoids the waste to the atmosphere of valuable renewable energy presented in the volatile fraction as well as reducing the total CO₂ emission in this type of process with practically no emissions of noxious wastes to the environment. In the DPC process, the functions of wood drying; wood pyrolysis and the resultant charcoal cooling are performed simultaneous and independently into at least three reactors. The emitted gases during pyrolysis as a significant heating value are burned in a combustion chamber, generating hot gases, which are returned to the reactor performing the drying process. In this process, charcoal can be made virtually any organic material, wood logs, coconut shells, bone, elephant grass, sawmill wastes and a variety of other substances. Wood pieces up to 5 meters long can be pilled directly into the reactors, avoiding the need of a sawing plant, as in the tower type continuous carbonization reactor. The DPC process creates an opportunity for investment in economic production of charcoal from any organic material in an environmentally sound basis. Its use could represent a real economic option in many regions of this planet and very especially in Brazil.

This paper outlines the DPC process as an economic and environment friendly option for the use of cultivated biomass, as a source of energy and metallurgical charcoal. It also demonstrated ways to use biomass in the coke base Blast Furnace technology in order to reduce CO₂ emissions and improve hot metal metallurgical properties through the use of charcoal injection as a substitute of coal. Brazil is the world greatest charcoal producer with an average annual production of 2.3 millions of metric tons. This production is only a small fraction of the actual potential to produce charcoal from cultivated biomass and agricultural crop wastes. The DPC process was specially developed to bring logistic, environmental, technical, economic and global energy efficiency when compared to most of the existing biomass carbonization processes. The DPC process encompasses the following main advantages: 1 – Utilizes the volatile materials (condensable and non-condensable) as a source of energy required by the carbonization process guaranteeing its complete combustion; 2 – The gases emitted during the pyrolysis step are used as a heat carrier for the endothermic stage of the pyrolysis. As a result the DPC process obtains a higher charcoal to biomass yield, and avoids the waste to the atmosphere of valuable renewable energy presented in the volatile fraction as well as reducing the total CO₂ emission in this type of process with practically no emissions of noxious wastes to the environment. In the DPC process, the functions of wood drying; wood pyrolysis and the resultant charcoal cooling are performed simultaneous and independently into at least three reactors. The emitted gases during pyrolysis as a significant heating value are burned in a combustion chamber, generating hot gases, which are returned to the reactor performing the drying process. In this process, charcoal can be made virtually any organic material, wood logs, coconut shells, bone, elephant grass, sawmill wastes and a variety of other substances. Wood pieces up to 5 meters long can be pilled directly into the reactors, avoiding the need of a sawing plant, as in the tower type continuous carbonization reactor. The DPC process creates an opportunity for investment in economic production of charcoal from any organic material in an environmentally sound basis. Its use could represent a real economic option in many regions of this planet and very especially in Brazil.

Keywords

biomass, charcoal, carbonization, renewable energy, CO2 reduction

biomass, charcoal, carbonization, renewable energy, CO2 reduction