The significance of heating rate on char yield and char properties in the pyrolysis of cellulose

The carbonization of powdered cellulose was investigated in the temperature range 200–950°C by measuring weight loss, carbon and hydrogen content, BET-adsorption of nitrogen and carbon dioxide, mercury penetration and particle-size distribution. Evidence is presented in support of a kinetic model according to which cellulose decomposition is controlled by dehydration at low temperature and by cleavage/scission at high temperature. Increased char yield and lower OC ratio at low heating rate, as well as kinetic investigations into the effect of potential catalysts, support this model. The difference in reaction mechanism according to the heating rate appeared to influence the char properties considerably. Yield in micropore volume and surface area of slowly carbonized cellulose is up to four times larger than that of rapidly heated cellulose. Mercury pore volume, density and particle diameter depend on the heating rate, also. By adsorption of various gases, differences in relative size of the pore openings of different chars can be discerned. Micropore volumes measured with carbon dioxide were as much as seventy times larger than the corresponding volume measured with nitrogen. Thus, it is possible to obtain chars with molecular sieve properties by simple pyrolysis heating schemes.