Abstract
Biomass chars (bio-chars) prepared under two pyrolysis modes and with four particle size ranges were investigated. The pyrolysis modes included isothermal pyrolysis and non-isothermal pyrolysis with three heating rates (5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, and 15 °C/min). The particle size ranges were 58-75 μm, 75-106 μm, 106-150 μm, and 150-270 μm. The pyrolysis characteristics, pore structures, surface morphologies, and functional groups of the bio-chars were characterized by TGA, specific surface area and porosity analyses, SEM, and FTIR. The mercury adsorption was further explored by the adsorption kinetics. The results established the optimum pyrolysis conditions for mercury adsorption: pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C, heating rate of 10 °C/min, and particle size of 58-75 μm. In addition, the mercury adsorption processes were affected by both physical adsorption and chemical adsorption. Furthermore, the rate constants of the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models gradually increased with decreasing particle size.
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Effects of Pyrolysis Mode and Particle Size on the Microscopic Characteristics and Mercury Adsorption Characteristics of Biomass Char
Li Jia, Bao-guo Fan, Ben Li, Yu-Xing Yao, Rui-Peng Huo, Rui Zhao, Xiao-Lei Qiao, and Yan Jin *
Biomass chars (bio-chars) prepared under two pyrolysis modes and with four particle size ranges were investigated. The pyrolysis modes included isothermal pyrolysis and non-isothermal pyrolysis with three heating rates (5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, and 15 °C/min). The particle size ranges were 58-75 μm, 75-106 μm, 106-150 μm, and 150-270 μm. The pyrolysis characteristics, pore structures, surface morphologies, and functional groups of the bio-chars were characterized by TGA, specific surface area and porosity analyses, SEM, and FTIR. The mercury adsorption was further explored by the adsorption kinetics. The results established the optimum pyrolysis conditions for mercury adsorption: pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C, heating rate of 10 °C/min, and particle size of 58-75 μm. In addition, the mercury adsorption processes were affected by both physical adsorption and chemical adsorption. Furthermore, the rate constants of the pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models gradually increased with decreasing particle size.
Keywords: Biomass char; Particle size; Isothermal; Non-isothermal; Mercury; Adsorption characteristics
Contact information: College of Electrical and Power Engineering, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, P. R. China; *Corresponding author: jinyan@tyut.edu.cn
INTRODUCTION
At present, mercury is one of the most harmful trace elements, responsible for a large negative effect on the environment and on humans (Syversen and Kaur 2012). There are two major sources of mercury in the environment, namely natural and man-made; the latter accounts for one-third of the total mercury released into the environment. The annual mercury emissions in China are more than one fourth of the global amount (Zhang and Wong 2007). When coal is burned, the mercury contained in the coal is released into the environment, accounting for 50% of the total mercury emissions in China (Wu et al. 2011). China has required the mercury concentration limit in the flue gas of coal-fired power plants to be 30 µg/m3 since January 1, 2015 (GB 13223-2011 2012).
Because of the special energy structure in China, the installed capacity of coal-fired power plants accounts for 69% of the total installed capacity in 2013. The coal consumed by power plants accounts for 60% of the total amount of coal produced. Due to China’s large equipment capacity and its large amount of coal consumption, the pollutant emission is relatively concentrated in coal-fired power plants. Flue gas mercury removal technologies in coal-fired power plants aim to remove gaseous mercury. Currently, as there is no special mercury emission control equipment, research into mercury emission control in the flue gas from coal-fired power plants has mainly focused on three aspects: mercury removal before combustion, improvement of existing pollution control equipment, and comprehensive emission control of pollutants (Gbor et al. 2006). According to the current circumstances, the method of adsorbent injection in combination with the existing typical air pollution control equipment, such as electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) and fabric filters (FFs), may become a promising technology for controlling mercury emissions in coal-fired flue gas (Zeng et al. 2004). Among these methods, activated carbon injection has been frequently applied, but many problems still exist with this technique (Carey et al. 1998; Graydon et al. 2009). Therefore, the development of efficient, low cost, and substitutable adsorbents is urgently needed.
Biomass char (bio-char) is a solid product obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass. It has complex pore structures and good surface characteristics. Much research into applying biomass to remove combustion pollutants has been conducted, including using the method of gas reburning after biomass gasification to control NOX emissions in coal-fired boilers (Pisupati and Bhallaa 2008). The flue gas generated in coal-fired boilers can form high-temperature pyrolysis conditions, providing the energy necessary for the pyrolysis of biomass. The flue gas temperature changes with the flow, which forms non-isothermal pyrolysis conditions and a wide temperature range. Additionally, the particle size can affect the pyrolysis process. Therefore, studies on the effects of the pyrolysis mode and particle size on the mercury adsorption characteristics of bio-char are necessary for exploring low-cost mercury removal technologies and overcoming the disadvantages of the low calorific value and low utilization efficiency of biomass.
It has been found that the heating rate and particle size are the two main factors that affect the pyrolysis characteristics of biomass. These factors have important influences on the gas-solid heterogeneous reaction rate, and mainly affect heat and mass transfer in the chemical reaction process (Senneca 2007). Additionally, the production of gaseous products remarkably increases during biomass pyrolysis with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature (Becidan et al. 2007; Fu et al. 2011). There have been some studies on the elemental mercury adsorption characteristics of bio-chars (Fuente-Cuesta et al. 2012; Yin et al. 2012). Above all, the adsorption of mercury by bio-char is dependent upon the characteristics of the bio-char. However, the key points determined in the above studies were diverse. Some studies have been conducted on the effects of the preparation conditions on the pyrolysis characteristics of the resulting bio-char. However, there have been fewer studies on the effects of different heating rates and particle sizes on the pyrolysis characteristics and mercury adsorption properties of bio-char. Moreover, these effects change significantly with different kinds of pyrolysis materials. The conclusions drawn from these studies differ substantially due to lack of comprehensive analysis. In this study, a comprehensive study of the effects of different pyrolysis modes (isothermal and non-isothermal) and particle sizes on the mercury adsorption characteristics of bio-char, the microscopic characteristics of bio-char, and the adsorption kinetics was performed to systematically explore the corresponding reaction mechanism. The results provide a theoretical basis for the development of future mercury removal methods.
EXPERIMENTAL
Preparation and Characterization of the Samples
Walnut shell (WS) was selected as the raw material. The particle size was screened using a crusher and a vibrating machine following a quartering method to obtain WS biomass with four different particle size ranges, which were 150 μm to 270 μm (100 mesh), 106 μm to 150 μm (150 mesh), 75 μm to 106 μm (200 mesh), and 58 μm to 75 μm (250 mesh), labelled as A, B, C, and D, respectively. The pyrolysis modes included isothermal pyrolysis mode and non-isothermal pyrolysis mode. A vertical tubular furnace was selected for biomass pyrolysis. During the process of isothermal pyrolysis, when the furnace temperature reached the set temperatures (400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C, and 1000 °C), the biomass was quickly sent into the furnace and pyrolyzed in a N2 atmosphere for 10 min. The non-isothermal pyrolysis experiments were performed at three heating rates of 5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, and 15 °C/min to the final temperatures of 400 °C, 600 °C, 800 °C, and 1000 °C in a N2 atmosphere. The biomass samples were also pyrolyzed for 10 min. After each pyrolysis experiment, the bio-char samples were kept in a desiccator until the material had cooled to the room temperature. The bio-chars obtained at 5 °C/min, 10 °C/min, and 15 °C/min heating rates were labelled as α, β, and γ. Compared with the non-isothermal preparation, the isothermal preparation was labelled as I.
The adsorption and desorption isotherms of the bio-char samples were obtained by performing N2adsorption and desorption experiments with an ASAP 2460 analyzer (Micromeritics, Norcross, GA, USA). The specific surface area was obtained from the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) equation, and the pore structure parameters of the samples were obtained by the Barrett-Joyner-Halenda (BJH) method. The moisture (M), volatile compound (V), ash (A), and fixed carbon (FC) contents were measured by a muffle furnace, in accordance with ASTM E1756-08 (2015). The reported value was the average value obtained from three parallel experiments. The functional groups on the surface of the bio-char were analyzed with a Vertex80V Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer (Bruker, Madison, USA). The surface morphology of the bio-char was determined using a Nova Nano scanning electron microscope (SEM) 50 (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Hillsboro, USA). The pyrolysis characteristics of the biomass were determined by a TGA/SDTA851 thermogravimetric analyzer (Mettler Toledo, Zurich, Switzerland).
Fixed-bed Mercury Adsorption Experiments
In the fixed-bed mercury adsorption experiments, the fixed-bed experimental system was mainly composed of a Hg0 permeator, a gas distribution system, a fixed-bed reactor, a continuous mercury vapor analyzer (VM3000, Mercury Instruments GmbH, Karlsfeld, Germany), and a tail gas absorption device. The Hg0 concentration in the simulated flue gas at the outlet of the reactor was continuously measured by the VM3000 at a sampling interval of 1 s, and the amount of bio-char was 1 g. Before the experimental gas entered the VM3000, the SnCl2 solution was used to reduce the Hg2+ (some Hg0oxidized on the surface of bio-char and escaped) in the experimental gas to Hg0, and then into VM3000 with the original Hg0 in the flue gas; thus the Hg0 adsorption characteristics of the bio-char were obtained. The mercury vapor was produced within a mercury permeation tube, which was placed in a U-shaped borosilicate glass tube, and in order to ensure that the concentration of mercury in the inlet gas to the fixed bed was stable at 42 μg/m3, the U-tube was maintained at 42 °C using a water bath. The total flow rate of the experimental gases was 1.4 L/min, which comprised the carrier gas and the equilibrium gas. The flow rate of N2 carrying Hg0 was 500 mL/min. The flow rate of the equilibrium gas (N2) introduced at the entrance of the fixed-bed was 900 mL/min. The adsorption temperature was maintained at 50 °C. Before the adsorption experiment was carried out, the experimental gas was passed through the bypass to VM3000 for monitoring. After the Hg0concentration was stable for 30 min, the gas was passed into the fixed-bed reactor, and then the mercury concentration at the outlet was monitored online. In addition, in order to prevent condensation of Hg0 on the pipe wall due to low temperature, all pipings and tee joints were made of Teflon. The exhaust gas in the experiment process was treated by modified activated carbon. The mercury adsorption penetration coefficient, denoted η, and the total amount of mercury adsorbed per unit mass of bio-char, denoted q, were used to explore the mercury adsorption characteristics of bio-char. The parameter η is the ratio of the outlet Hg0 concentration to the initial Hg0 concentration in the flue gas at a certain time. In the same experimental conditions, the higher the η value is, the worse the corresponding mercury removal performance of the bio-char sample.
The parameter q represents the total amount of Hg0 adsorbed by the bio-char from the beginning of the adsorption process and is calculated by Eq. 1 as follows:
(1)
In this equation, Cin is the initial concentration of Hg0 in the flue gas (ng/L), Cout is the corresponding concentration of Hg0 at the outlet (ng/L), F is the flow rate of N2 through the bio-char (L/s), m is the bio-char filling amount (g), q is the total amount of Hg0 adsorbed per unit mass of bio-char (ng/g), and t is the adsorption time (s).
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Proximate and Ultimate Analyses
The results of the proximate and ultimate analyses of the biomass and bio-chars are shown in Table 1. It was found that the WS biomass had a higher content of volatile compounds on an air-dried basis, compared with the bio-chars. The devolatilization of volatile substances was beneficial to the formation of developed pore structures. The oxygen content was high, which indicated that oxygen-containing functional groups were abundant. During the pyrolysis of the biomass, the carbon-hydrogen bonds and carbon-oxygen bonds fractured, and hydrogen and oxygen elements were separated from the biomass, which resulted in a decrease in these element contents and an enrichment of carbon (Newalkar et al. 2014). Thus, the fixed carbon contents and gross calorific values of the bio-chars were higher. Additionally, the fixed carbon content was directly related to the pyrolysis temperature. Meanwhile, the contents of N and S in the biomass were relatively smaller, and during the process of pyrolysis, these were mainly in the form of small molecular compounds retained in the bio-char. The reduction degree of these was smaller than that of H and O, so the mass fractions of these increased. As the volatile compounds were sufficiently devolatilized under the isothermal pyrolysis mode, the volatile compound contents of the bio-chars were lower than the bio-chars prepared under the non-isothermal pyrolysis mode. With a decrease in the stationary temperature, the volatile compound contents steeply increased. The volatile compound content of the 400-D-I sorbent was 49.7%, which indicated that the devolatilization of the volatile compounds was not sufficient. Under the non-isothermal pyrolysis mode and with an increase in the heating rate, the volatile compound contents gradually increased. This result implied that more volatile compounds remained and less volatile compounds devolatilized; thus, the devolatilization degree of the volatile compounds gradually weakened. Meanwhile, with a decrease in the particle size, the influence of the heat and mass transfer decreased, which facilitated the pyrolysis process. As a result, volatile compound devolatilization was gradually enhanced.
Table 1. The Proximate and Ultimate Analyses of the Biomass and Bio-char
Note: Wad is the mass fraction on air-dried basis.
Pyrolysis Characteristics of the Bio-char
The pyrolysis trend curves of the WS biomass under the different pyrolysis modes and with different particle sizes were similar and are shown in Fig. 1. The pyrolysis process of WS was consistent with that of cellulosic biomass (Sanchez-Silva et al. 2012). The main polymer components involved in the pyrolysis process were hemicellulose, cellulose, and lignin. Hemicellulose is mainly composed of glucose, mannose, xylose, and galactose. It has short molecular chains with saccharidic side-groups and an amorphous structure. It can be easily pyrolyzed over the low temperature range of 220 °C to 315 °C. Cellulose is a polymer with a straight chain formed by the polymerization of glucose molecules. It has a more stable structure. The pyrolysis temperature range of cellulose is higher than that of hemicellulose and is mainly from 315 °C to 400 °C. Lignin is formed by the polymerization of aromatic compounds without fixed shapes and forms a crosslinked network structure. The range of the chemical bond energy is very wide and difficult to decompose. The lignin pyrolysis process occurs over a wide temperature range from room temperature to 900 °C (Jia et al. 2018).
Fig. 1. The TG and DTG curves of WS in the different pyrolysis conditions: (a) TG curves; and (b) DTG curves
The pyrolysis process could be divided into three stages. The first stage occurred from room temperature to T1 (the temperature corresponding to a weight loss ratio of approximately 10% was the initial devolatilization temperature of volatile matter (Duan et al. 2006)), which was approximately 200 to 250 °C. The main changes in the biomass in this pyrolysis stage occurred through dehydration, a small amount of internal depolymerization recombination, and the “glass transition phenomenon” (Antal and Varhegyi 1995). The preparatory work for the next stage of the rapid pyrolysis of biomass was also accomplished. The second stage occurred from T1 to T3, where T3 was in the range of 300 to 500 °C. This stage accounted for the main weight loss in the pyrolysis process. Most of the organic components decomposed rapidly, and pyrolysis products were formed. A strong weight loss peak appeared at approximately 360 °C, which was mainly due to pyrolysis of cellulose. Meanwhile, a unique shoulder peak appeared at approximately 310 °C before the strong weight loss peak and was mainly due to the pyrolysis of hemicellulose. The third stage of pyrolysis occurred from T3 to the final temperature and exhibited only a slight weight loss. In this stage, slow pyrolysis of the carbonaceous materials in the solid residues principally occurred to form the final bio-char.
According to the pyrolysis curves and related pyrolysis characteristic parameters, a comprehensive index of the pyrolysis characteristics (D) was proposed to characterize the degree of difficulty for the devolatilization of biomass volatile compounds, which was calculated by Eq. 2. The larger the value, the more likely pyrolysis behavior will occur. The related characteristic pyrolysis parameters are shown in Table 2.
(2)
where T2 is the temperature corresponding to the maximum devolatilization rate of volatile in the second stage of pyrolysis (°C), (dw/dt)max is the maximum weight loss rate during pyrolysis, which is the peak value of DTG (%/min), (dw/dt)mean is the average weight loss rate in the second and third stages of pyrolysis (%/min), V is the total amount of volatile compound devolatilization in the second stage of pyrolysis (%), and ∆T(1/2) is the temperature (°C) corresponding to a (dw/dt)/(dw/dt)max of 1/2.
Table 2. Biomass Pyrolysis Characteristic Parameters
In the case of certain particle sizes, the T1, T2, T3, and D all increased with the increase in the heating rate. The thermogravimetric (TG) curve moved to the high-temperature zone and the peak value interval of the DTG curve broadened, accompanied with the hysteresis phenomenon. The formation of the temperature gradient was intensified with an increase in the heating rate because of the poor thermal conductivity of the biomass, which inhibited the process of heating and decomposition of the internal particles (Ma et al. 2015). Meanwhile, the amount of volatile compound devolatilization initially increased and then decreased with an increase in the heating rate. The amount of devolatilization was the highest when the heating rate was 10 °C/min. The reason for this was that, while increasing the heating rate could accelerate the devolatilization of the volatile compounds, the reaction rate between the free radicals that were produced during pyrolysis and the intrinsic hydrogen was lower than the rate of free radical formation, which led to the combination of free radicals and the formation of a high polymer that was difficult to devolatilize. This was adverse to the devolatilization of volatile compounds.
Furthermore, for certain heating rates, the biomass exhibited a similar weight loss trend, with a decrease in particle sizes. However, the T3 decreased gradually, and the reaction region became narrow with an increase in the particle size, which was because of the great influence the particle size had on the process of heat and mass transfer. With a decrease in the particle size, it was easier to transfer heat and the temperature difference between the particles and the external decreased. Also, the gas produced during pyrolysis could discharge without delay. While the internal structure of the biomass particle was porous, if the volatile compounds devolatilized during the first-order cracking reaction did not discharge quickly, the second-order cracking reaction would occur with the formation of some condensable gases during the process of outward release from the intra-particle structure, which is not conducive to the generation of volatile compounds. Moreover, according to the D values, it was found that the heating rate played a more important role in the pyrolysis of the biomass than the particle size, in the conditions analyzed.
Pore Structures of the Bio-chars
The pore structures of the bio-char were characterized, and the results are shown in Table 3. The differential and accumulated pore volumes of the bio-chars are shown in Fig. 2. In this paper, the specific surface area per unit volume, Z, was introduced to characterize the pore richness and study the influence of the pore structure on the mercury adsorption capacity of the bio-char. This parameter was calculated by Eq. 3 as follows,
Z = S0 / V0 (3)
where S0 is the BET specific surface area of the bio-char (m2/g) and V0 is the accumulated pore volume of the bio-char (cm3/g).
The surface fractal dimension (DS) was another important parameter for describing the pore structure of the bio-char and could be obtained from Eq. 4 (Pfeifer 1988; Jarȥbski et al. 1995):
ln(V/Vm) = (DS – 3) · ln(ln(p0/p)) + C (4)
where V/Vm is the relative amount of adsorption, DS is the fractal dimension, p0/p is the reciprocal of the relative pressure, and C is a constant.
In the case of a certain particle size and with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature, the BET specific surface area, accumulated pore volume, DS, and Z of the bio-char all initially increased and then decreased. The specific surface area and pore volume of the 600-D-I sorbent were the highest among all the samples. In contrast, the pore structure parameters of the 400-D-I sorbent were the lowest. As was mentioned above, the pyrolysis extent of the biomass and devolatilization of the volatile compounds were not sufficient at 400 °C, which resulted in pore structures that were not perfectly formed and contained mainly macroporous structures. Additionally, the Z and DS were lower, and the surface structure of the sorbent was comparatively well ordered. As the further devolatilization of volatiles was promoted at 600 °C, the formation of new pores was simultaneously promoted. A large number of mesopores were generated in the bio-char. The specific surface area and pore volume increased substantially, the DS was higher, the surface structure was disordered, the pores formed were deeper, and the Z was higher. These results indicated that the pore structures were well developed, which was beneficial to the adsorption of mercury (Fan et al. 2016). A further increase in the pyrolysis temperature led to a collapse of the pore structure and a flattening of the bio-char surface due to the structure changes of the silicate caused by high temperatures (Keown et al. 2008; Park et al. 2010), which resulted in a decrease in the DS. Furthermore, when the pyrolysis temperature was in the range of 600 °C to 850 °C, some of the volatile compounds were involved in a second-order cracking reaction, which formed tar. As these volatile compounds were from the deeper inner part of the biomass particle, the tar produced, which was in a semi-devolatilization state, was able to block the pore structure (Babu and Sheth 2006). Thus, the specific surface area and pore volume of the 800-D-I sorbent decreased significantly. Nevertheless, when the temperature was increased to 1000 °C, the coalescence of small pores occurred, which led to a further decrease in the pore richness. Meanwhile, the tar residue in the pores devolatilized, which was accompanied by the devolatilization of lighter volatile compounds, such as H2. As a result, the specific surface area and pore volume were slightly higher than those of the sorbents obtained at 800 °C, and the pore structure tended to develop into macropores.
Compared with the pyrolysis temperature, the influence of the heating rate on the pore structures was lower. With an increase in the heating rate, the biomass underwent a wider temperature region of the pyrolysis process. And considering that the pyrolysis temperature and the devolatilization rate of volatile compounds were positively correlated, the devolatilization rate was gradually increased. Additionally, the pyrolysis products need abundant time to diffuse from the intra-particle structure in an orderly manner. Otherwise, these products could accumulate inside the particles, which would result in the obstruction of pore structures. Thus, an increase in the heating rate was beneficial for the development of the pore structure, and the pore richness increased gradually. In addition, in the low-temperature region, lower pyrolysis temperatures resulted in slower devolatilization rates, which was beneficial for the retention of the pore structure. Since the heating rates of 600-D-β and 600-D-γ sorbents were higher, the pyrolysis process mainly occurred in the low-temperature region; the specific surface area and pore volume of these sorbents were higher.
The pyrolysis process of the 600-D-α sorbent mainly occurred over the range of 550 °C to 600 °C, and so the relative pore volume of the macropores was higher. Also, the DS was lower, which indicated that the surface structure was smooth and regular. The pores that formed were shallower, which was unfavorable for the adsorption of mercury. Similarly, compared with the 600-D-α, 600-D-β, and 600-D-γ sorbents that were prepared under the non-isothermal pyrolysis mode, the BET specific surface area and accumulated pore volume of the 600-D-I sorbent were lower.
The pore structure parameters of the bio-chars generated by pyrolysis increased gradually with decreasing particle size. As mentioned above, on the one hand, the amount of volatiles devolatilized in the pyrolysis process increased, which facilitated the development of the pore structure. On the other hand, due to the effect of shear stress during the process of biomass crushing, the particle size decreased, which was accompanied by a gradual increase in the specific surface area, most probable pore size, Z, and DS of the bio-chars.
The 600-D-I sorbent had the highest most probable pore size, which meant a decreased resistance of mercury entering the inner particle, so the sorbent had the highest absorption ability. Meanwhile, it was found that the pyrolysis temperature and particle size were more influential on the pore structure of the bio-char than the heating rate.
Fig. 2. Differential and accumulated pore volumes of the bio-chars prepared under different pyrolysis modes and with different particle sizes: (a) and (b) different temperatures; (c) and (d) different particle sizes; (e) and (f) different heating rates
It could be seen from the accumulated pore volume curves of the bio-chars that when the pore size was above 35 nm, the accumulated pore volume increased slowly, which indicated that macropores made a smaller contribution to the pore volume of the bio-char. The pore volume mainly consisted of mesopores. Meanwhile, it was concluded that there was a positive correlation between the mercury adsorption capacity of the bio-char and the accumulated pore volume.
Table 3. Pore Structure Parameters of the Bio-chars Prepared under Different Pyrolysis Modes and with Different Particle Sizes
Surface Chemical Properties of the Bio-chars
In the research on the surface functional groups of bio-char, the relative contents of the functional groups were characterized by fitting the resolved peak areas (Ibarra et al. 1996; Koch et al. 1998). The infrared spectrum of bio-char could be divided into four main regions: the hydroxyl vibration zone (3600 to 3000 cm-1), the aliphatic-CH vibration zone (3000 to 2700 cm-1), the oxygen-containing functional group vibration zone (1800 to 1000 cm-1), and the aromatic-CH out-of-plane vibration zone (900 to 700 cm-1), which are denoted zones a, b, c, and d, respectively. Among the functional groups, hydroxyl and oxygen-containing functional groups including COOH and C=O were the main factors affecting the mercury adsorption of bio-char, as they could increase the adsorption energy of mercury on the surface of the bio-char (Zhang et al. 2015). The infrared spectra of the bio-chars are shown in Fig. 3, and the relevant parameters obtained by fitting are shown in Table 4.
The energy of the hydrogen bonds formed by hydrogen and oxygen was stronger, which resulted in a broad wave-crest belt in the hydroxyl vibration zone. This mainly involved free hydroxyl groups, which implied that the -OH functional groups of the biomass were cleaved during pyrolysis, with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature. This reaction produced moisture and also had an inhibitory effect on the production of phenols and alcohols (Keown et al. 2007).
The aliphatic-CH vibration zone mainly consisted of the stretching vibrations of the aliphatic compounds -CH2 and -CH3. The cleavage of alkyl side chains was promoted with increasing pyrolysis temperature, due to a large amount of CH4 and other gases devolatilization, which resulted in a drastic decrease in the corresponding contents of these functional groups. When the temperature increased to 800 °C and 1000 °C, the relevant functional groups disappeared.
Table 4. Fitting Results of the Bio-chars Produced under Different Pyrolysis Modes and with Different Particle Sizes
Fig. 3. Infrared spectra of the bio-chars prepared in the different pyrolysis conditions
The oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the bio-char promoted the pyrolysis of the biomass (Laurendeau 1978) and were mainly distributed in two vibrational frequency ranges. The frequency range from 1150 to 1350 cm-1 mainly corresponded to the stretching vibrations of C-O functional groups, which mainly underwent CO gas devolatilization in the pyrolysis process (Solomon et al. 1988). Thus, with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature, the corresponding content of C-O decreased. Furthermore, the relevant contents of ether and ester structures decreased. When the temperature was more than 800 °C, the vibration of the C-O groups disappeared completely. The frequency range near 1600 cm-1 belonged to the C=C functional groups of the aromatic nucleus. The aromatic carbon skeleton formed the main structure of the biomass molecule (de la Puente et al. 1998) and could undergo polymerization during pyrolysis (Arenillas et al. 2004). Therefore, the content of C=C functional groups decreased gradually with an increase in the pyrolysis temperature.
Additionally, the frequency range from 1000 to 1100 cm-1 mainly corresponded to the vibrations of Si-O functional groups in the silicate minerals. The content decreased gradually with an increase in the temperature. When the temperature was 800 °C and 1000 °C, the relevant functional groups disappeared. This was because the silicate structure changed, which was caused by high temperatures. This was consistent with the results given previously.
With a decrease in the particle size, the functional group content tended to increase overall. The process of ultrafine particle fragmentation was not only a physical process, but also a chemical one (Palaniandy et al. 2008). This was explained by the process of fragmentation, which was accompanied by mechanochemical effects by which the mechanical force might have influenced or induced chemical reactions. In the biomass grinding process using a crusher, when the mechanical force fractures the biomass, the intermolecular forces are destroyed, transforming the biomass from a macromolecular structure into a small molecular structure. Conversely, according to the law of conservation of energy, most of the mechanical energy transmitted to the biomass by the crusher was converted into biomass internal energy, which results in a decreased biomass activation energy.
At the same time, the material surface temperature increases on a macroscopic level. As activated chemical bonds began to occur in the decomposition reaction, new free radicals and functional groups (such as C-O, C=C, COOH, and C=O) are generated. In addition, as the degree of biomass fragmentation increases, the particle size of the biomass decreases, increasing the number of surface functional groups, which is conducive to mercury adsorption. Combined with the previous results, this mechanochemical effect had a certain selectivity and led to more remarkable effects on the oxygen-containing functional groups. Additionally, the pyrolysis area increased with a decrease in the particle size, which affected the contents of the functional groups.
Surface Morphologies of the Bio-chars
The surface morphologies and microstructure characteristics of the bio-chars were obtained with a SEM and are shown in Fig. 4. Because of the effect of the shear stress during the process of fragmentation, the surfaces of the bio-chars became rougher during the process of pyrolysis with a decrease in the particle size. More new pore structures were generated and developed, and a large number of sheet salient structures appeared. The surface morphologies of the bio-chars prepared at the different pyrolysis temperatures were different.
The surface of the 400-D-I sorbent was smooth overall, without holes. The pores formed on the 600-D-I sorbent were deeper and developed. The segmental pores of the 800-D-I sorbent were blocked by tar in a semi-devolatilized state, and the surface was smoother than that of the 600-D-I sorbent. There was no blocking phenomenon seen in the pores of the 1000-D-I sorbent. However, the pore holes were obviously enlarged because of the collapse of the pore structure, ablation of the pore walls, and coalescence of small pores.
Among the sorbents obtained at different heating rates, the surface of the 600-D-α sorbent was smoother, while the pore structures of the 600-D-γ sorbent were developed. The above results verified the conclusions that were drawn previously.