2010

Oasmaa, Anja; Peacocke, Cordner

This report is a valuable resource for those involved in biomass fast pyrolysis for fuel oil production. The report provides details of the analysis of the fuel properties of the bio-oil products from fast pyrolysis of biomass and also includes what is known about utilization of the products as fuels. This report is the latest update of the previous analytical methods reports from VTT (#306 from 1997 and #450 from 2001). The report begins with a short introduction to the technology for bio-oil production and the chemical composition of the liquid products. It addresses the key complication for testing (and using) bio-oil, the recovery of a representative sample. The analytical methods are then presented with both chapters describing the details and results in the main report and related appendices with the actual method procedures provided for several of the analyses. The fuel oil properties described range from compositional methods, such as elements, water and solids, to various relevant physical properties, such as density, viscosity, lubricity, and a number of chemical-based properties, such as carbon residue, flash point, heating value, acidity and thermal stability. Consideration of fuel oil specifications, quality control and environmental and safety issues is also addressed. The report contains a representative Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) as an appendix. Finally, the report contains an invaluable collection of data from the literature describing 50 different bio-oil products from the around the world including a wide range of biomass feedstock types and numerous reactor configurations.