Pyrolysis of cellulose, xylan and lignin with the K2CO3 and ZnCl2 addition for bio-oil production

The chemical structure of liquid products of the wood biopolymers, i.e. cellulose, xylan and lignin pyrolysis at 450 °C with and without the 10 wt.% addition of potassium carbonate or zinc chloride was investigated. The yield of liquid products of pyrolysis was in the range of 24–44 wt.% and their form was depending on the chemical structure of pyrolyzed material. The potassium carbonate and zinc chloride addition to biopolymers has also influenced the temperature range of samples decomposition as well as the structure of resulted bio-oils. All bio-oils from biopolymer were dark-brown water-oil emulsions. Contrarily, bio-oils obtained from biopolymer with K2CO3 or ZnCl2 addition were orange liquids with well-separated water and oil phases. All analyses proved that the composition and the quality of bio-oil strongly depends on both the nature of the starting sample and the presence of the additive. The FT-IR analyses of oils showed that oxygen functionalities and hydrocarbons contents highly depend on the type of biopolymer. Results confirmed the significant removal and/or transformation of oxygen containing organic compounds due to the zinc chloride and potassium carbonate presence during pyrolysis process.