Experimental study on corn stalks pyrolysis characteristics in northeast China

Abstract. To elucidate the characteristics of biomass pyrolysis and optimize the pyrolytic carbonization process, three types of corn stalk, widely planted in northeast part of China, were chosen as the fuel to carry out the pyrolysis experiment. This study focused on the effects of planting areas, particle size, heating rate and final carbonization temperature on the char yield of pyrolysis experiment. Based on the single-factor tests of HYM, BBD experiment was carried out to optimize the parameters of pyrolysis experiments. The single-factor test results indicated that three types of corn stalk had similar pyrolysis characteristics and the char yield of HYM was the highest. Furthermore, when the particle size was 60~160 meshes or the heating rate was 25 ºC/min, the char yield amounted to the highest. However, finial carbonization temperature had little effects on the char yield. The BBD experiment results showed that when the particle size, heating rate and final carbonization temperature were chosen as 140 meshes, 21 ºC/min and 425ºC, respectively, the char yield of HYN was the highest, which amounted to 48.56%.