Study of pyrolysis and gasification of biomass from the self-organization perspective

Abstract: This thesis focuses on the analysis of kinetics of i) low-temperature pyrolysis of gaseous hydrocarbons, ii) high-temperature steam gasification of char of wood pellets (>700oC), iii) high temperature pyrolysis of straw pellets in an atmosphere of argon and steam, and iv) high temperature pyrolysis of slices of transversally cut wooden sticks. The results of the kinetic measurements in the high-temperature cases are approximated using a least-square based optimization software, which was specially developed to analyse kinetics prone for deviation from the Arrhenius law.In the thesis a general analysis of the researched materials and kinetics of their pyrolysis and gasification is presented from the self-organization perspective. The energy transfer phenomena in both the pyrolysis and gasification processes of biomass are discussed with an emphasis on an analysis of basic phenomena involving the self-organized dynamics on fractal structures in the chosen biomass samples.