11.1.2019 Pyrolysis integrated with pulping offers an interesting possibility to make novel bio-products (Ghalibaf)
Opponent Dr. Hanna Brännström (Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke) and Custos Professor Raimo Alén (Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥). The doctoral dissertation is held in English.
The direct production of energy-rich bio-oils from conventional pyrolysis is challenging and it is currently not a commercially attractive alternative. Partial removal of carbohydrates from biomass feedstock prior to pyrolysis by hot-water extraction offers a tool to obtain more tailored bio-oil compositions, says Maryam Ghalibaf in her thesis.
During the last forty years, global regulators have been increased the need to use wood materials and other renewable biomasses for the production of value-added chemicals, energy, or other bio-products according to methods generally known as "green chemistry" or "green technologies". In Finland, the forest-based raw material seems to be available in adequate quantities, since the industry utilizes annually about 53 million cubic meters of wood when the forest growth is equivalent to just over 100 million cubic meters. Additionally, a wide range of various side streams is formed in versatile processes of forest industry.
Fast pyrolysis is one of the most potential conversion technologies for utilizing more efficiently different renewable raw materials. By this method, biomaterial degrades under controlled, almost oxygen-free conditions at elevated temperature to produce, together with gases and solid char, a liquid product, generally known as pyrolysis oil or bio-oil. This oil can be used as a fuel, but it is also a potential raw material for the production of certain chemicals.
However, pyrolysis also generates some undesirable, mainly carbohydrate-derived oxygenated compounds with low heating value. Thus, the direct production of energy-rich bio-oils from conventional pyrolysis is challenging and it is currently not a commercially attractive alternative. To diminish these drawbacks, for example, a partial removal of carbohydrates from biomass feedstock prior to pyrolysis by hot-water extraction offers a tool to obtain more tailored bio-oil compositions.
In this thesis, the analytical pyrolysis was applied to feedstocks based on spruce, birch, okra, and miscanthus, which all were obtained from the different stages of the so-called integrated biorefinery concept including hot-water extraction followed by alkaline pulping under varying conditions. In each case, all the condensable pyrolysis products were classified into several characteristic aliphatic and aromatic compound groups. This kind of approach is of practical importance with respect to efforts not only to uncover new integrated biorefinery possibilities to manufacture value-added products, but also to develop rapid characterization tools for lignocellulosics.
M.Sc. Maryam Ghalibaf defends her doctoral dissertation entitled "Analytical Pyrolysis of Wood and Non-Wood Materials from Integrated Biorefinery Concepts" on 11.01.2019 at 12:00 in the lecture hall KEM4 at Ylistönrinne. The Opponent is Doctor Hanna Brännström (the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke)) and the Custos Professor Raimo Alén (Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥). The doctoral dissertation is held in English.
Maryam Ghalibaf obtained a Master’s degree in Organic Chemistry in 2008 from the University of Shahid Beheshti, Tehran, Iran. During her doctoral studies in Applied Chemistry between 2013 and 2018 at the Ä¢¹½Ö±²¥ she also had four-month research mobility to the University of Groningen, The Netherlands.