Understanding the Differences between Char and Tar-char

228.485 Final Year Research Project

Supervisors: Jim Jones and Georg Ripberger (PhD student)

Charcoal, one of the first manmade products, has gained renewed interest in recent years
owing to its potential to sequester atmospheric carbon in soil for hundreds to thousands of
years while simultaneously improving soil properties. Charcoal in this context is called
biochar. Research indicates that the beneficial effects of biochar in soil stem mainly from its
physical properties. Preliminary work in our laboratory shows that they are not only
dependent on the pyrolysis conditions, but also on the char formation pathway.

Charcoal is produced by pyrolysis, a thermochemical conversion process that takes place in

the absence of oxygen, which is not fully understood. In simple terms, pyrolysis can be
separated in primary and secondary pyrolysis; primary is the initial breakdown of the wood
into simpler molecules and compounds, and secondary is the subsequent reactions, which
either cause further breakdown or recombine to form new molecular structures. Char is
produced at each step, termed primary and secondary char respectively.

This project is aimed at investigating the differences between these two types of char.
Properties of interest are basic density, apparent density, porosity, surface area, calorific
value, proximate analysis, and ultimate analysis.

Pyrolysis trials will be performed, which produces primary char, a condensed liquid called tar
and a non-condensable gas, which is flared. Secondary char is then produced by repyrolysing
the tar. The first part of the project involves manufacturing the primary and secondary char
under identical conditions. Primary char in the frame of this project is char obtained from
pyrolysing small samples of radiata pine. Secondary char, however, is defined as char
obtained from pyrolysing the pine tar. This varies from the traditional definition but allows
valuable insight into the char formation mechanism itself and the dependence of product
properties on the production pathway. Both chars will be obtained by heating the different
feed in a vessel (already available), that prevents air ingress, in a muffle furnace. A system
needs to be built for collecting the pine-tar required for producing the secondary char. Pine
tar will be produced by heating the feedstock to 500°C in the slow pyrolysis regime and the
char will be produced at varying highest treatment temperatures to compare the chars as a
function of pyrolysis temperature. In the second part of the project the chars will be
characterised by determining the above mentioned properties.

The findings will be used to understand the varying char formation mechanism and its
influence on product properties. This is not only beneficial to the manufacture of biochar but
also to a wider range of industries like the iron and steel industry.