Pyrolysis Characteristics of Undervalued Wood Varieties in the Portuguese Charcoal Sector

Felix Charvet; Felipe Silva; Luís Ruivo; Luís Tarelho; Arlindo Matos; José Figueiredo da Silva; Daniel Neves

LAPSE

Living Archive for Process Systems Engineering

LAPSE:2023.31998

Published Article

LAPSE:2023.31998

Pyrolysis Characteristics of Undervalued Wood Varieties in the Portuguese Charcoal Sector

Felix Charvet, Felipe Silva, Luís Ruivo, Luís Tarelho, Arlindo Matos, José Figueiredo da Silva, Daniel Neves

April 19, 2023

Charcoal production in Portugal is mostly based on the valorization of woody residues from cork oak and holm oak, the latter being considered a reference feedstock in the market. Nevertheless, since wildfire prevention became a priority in Portugal, after the recent dramatic wildfires, urgent actions are being conducted to reduce the fuel load in the forests, which is increasing the amount of biomass that is available for valorization. Additionally, biomass residues from agriculture, forest management, control of invasive species, partially burnt wood from post-fire recovery actions, and waste wood from storm devastated forests need also to be considered within the national biomass valorization policies. This has motivated the present work on whether the carbonization process can be used to valorize alternative woody biomasses not currently used on a large scale. For this purpose, slow pyrolysis experiments were carried out with ten types of wood, using a fixed bed reactor allowing the controlled heating of large fuel particles at 0.1 to 5 °C/min and final temperatures within 300−450 °C. Apart from an evaluation of the mass balance of the process, emphasis was given to the properties of the resulting charcoals considering its major market in Portugal—barbecue charcoal for both recreational and professional purposes.

Record ID

LAPSE:2023.31998

Keywords

Biomass, carbonization, charcoal, pyrolysis, woody residues

Subject

Energy Systems

Suggested Citation

Charvet F, Silva F, Ruivo L, Tarelho L, Matos A, Figueiredo da Silva J, Neves D. Pyrolysis Characteristics of Undervalued Wood Varieties in the Portuguese Charcoal Sector. (2023). LAPSE:2023.31998

Author Affiliations

Charvet F: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal [ORCID]
Silva F: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal [ORCID]
Ruivo L: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, CICECO—Aveiro Institute of
Tarelho L: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal [ORCID]
Matos A: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal
Figueiredo da Silva J: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal [ORCID]
Neves D: Department of Environment and Planning, CESAM—Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810-193 Aveiro, Portugal

Journal Name

Energies

Volume

14

Issue

9

First Page

2537

Year

2021

Publication Date

2021-04-28