Biomass Fuel Quality Enhancement and Respiratory Quotient (RQ) for Ranking Fossil and Biomass Fuels Based on CO2 Emissions - Novel Combustion Concepts for Sustainable Energy Development - page 53

hemicellulose fraction of mesquite being more reactive than that of juniper is the
main cause for a higher weight loss during the torrefaction of mesquite.
For further analysis of the effect of the purge gas upon the torrefaction of juniper,
thermograms from the torrefaction and pyrolysis using argon and carbon dioxide
were overlaid with the thermograms using nitrogen as the purge gas. These overlays
can be seen in Figs. 3 and 4 , respectively. The trends observed from the comparison
of argon and carbon dioxide to nitrogen appears similar to the ones observed from

TGA Thermograms - Juniper Nitrogen vs. Argon Comparison

100

90

Pyrolysis - Nitrogen
Pyrolysis - Argon
200°C - Nitrogen
200°C - Argon
220°C - Nitrogen
220°C - Argon
240°C - Nitrogen
240°C - argon
260°C - Nitrogen
260°C - Argon
280°C - Nitrogen
280°C - Argon
300°C - Argon
300°C - Argon

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Temperature (°C)

Fig. 3 Comparison of thermograms from pyrolysis and torrefaction of juniper wood using N 2 and
Ar as the purge gasses, adapted from Eseltine ( 2011 )

TGA Thermograms - Juniper Nitrogen vs. Carbon-dioxide
Comparison

100

90

Pyrolysis - Nitrogen
Pyrolysis - Carbon-dioxide
200°C - Nitrogen
200°C - Carbon-dioxide
220°C - Nitrogen
220°C - Carbon-dioxide
240°C - Nitrogen
240°C - Carbon-dioxide
260°C - Nitrogen
260°C - Carbon-dioxide
280°C - Nitrogen
280°C - Carbon-dioxide
300°C - Nitrogen
300°C - Carbon-dioxide

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800

Temperature (°C)

Fig. 4 Comparison of thermograms from pyrolysis and torrefaction of juniper wood using N 2 and
CO 2 as the purge gases, adapted from Eseltine ( 2011 )