I visited the KTH Royal Institute of Technology from 19/08/2019 till 30/08/2019. The fast fluidized bed facility I worked on is located in the department of material science and engineering.
The purpose of my visit was to investigate the effect of potassium carbonate promoted Hydrotalcite (HT) on biomass pyrolysis. Initially effect of Hydrotalcite was investigated and then Hydrotalcite was promoted by K2CO3 and its effect of recorded.
From the charts in the gallery below, the mass balance and gas composition of the experiments can be seen. The mass balance closure was around 90%. It can be seen from the data that the oil yield decreases on the application of catalyst and there is an increase in the gas production. It is also evident from the data that both Hydrotalcite and K2CO3 promoted promotes dehydration and decarboxylation reactions. There was also a slight increase in H2 production. It is further needed to investigate the bio-oil for its characteristics and also characterize the catalyst for a conclusive discussion.
I benefited from gaining knowledge on the research question I had. I also got to meet researchers working in the field of pyrolysis and other similar fields.. I also got knowledge of Analytical instruments such as GCMS, Karl fischer titration which I had not used before. Overall It was a welcome experience.
Major Gas Composition
Mass Balance
Harsha Mysore Prabhakara in the Chemical Lab
Harsha Mysore Prabhakara and co-worker next to the experimental setup
Harsha Mysore Prabhakara and co-worker laughing about something in the lab
Harsha Mysore Prabhakara Portait