Improved bio-oils from in situ co-pyrolysis of grape seeds and polystyrene

Abstract

The effective use of renewable sources to produce energy is an important objective to reduce the environmental impact caused by the exploitation of fossil fuels. The use of lignocellulosic biomass becomes one of the most promising alternatives, as it is the only renewable source of carbon that can produce products similar to fossil fuels through the pyrolysis process and does not compete with the food market. Unfortunately, the properties of pyrolytic bio oils as fuels are very poor and different improvement strategies need to be implemented. Among all the strategies, co pyrolysis of biomass and plastic waste such as polystyrene ( emerges as a promising way to achieve this goal). For synergistic reasons these raw materials are processed by co pyrolysis giving the process the possibility to achieve this objective economically. The present work develops a new and low cost strategy based on the in situ co pyrolysis of biomass and plastic wastes that allows the user to obtain an advanced bio oil to be used directly or to be processed in bio refineries. The implementation of new, simple and low cost strategy through co pyrolysis of grape seeds and PS in a specifically designed fixed bed reactor, that allows the user to directly obtain high quality bio oils to be used as renewable energetic vector.