Project Title: An Investigation of Poultry Litter Conversion into Useful Energy Resources by Using Fast Pyrolysis.
I am PhD student in Brunel University London, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, under the research centre of CSEF (Centre for Sustainable Energy use in Food chains). My research is focused on investigating the conversion of chicken litter into useful resources by using pyrolysis. I have performed part of my research in Brunel University but unfortunately the fast pyrolysis equipment was not available there. Therefore, I needed to find an off-campus research facility that had the necessary equipment for me to proceed further with my research. Through the website of BRISK2, I came to know that TU DELFT in the Netherlands had the right fast pyrolysis equipment that could support the progress of my research.
The Process and Energy Laboratory of Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) is one of the leading facilities in Europe with fast pyrolysis as one of its most researched topics. The facility has the equipment for fast pyrolysis that has enabled me to perform my research. The set of equipment including the Thermogravimetric (TGA), the Pyroprobe 5000 series and Micro Gas Chromatogram (gas analyser) that are essential for research in fast pyrolysis. Professor Wiebren de Jong as the team leader and Christos Tsekos are the person in charge during my research visit in TU Delft (the host institution). They are highly-competent, experienced and have performed numerous researches in the field of pyrolysis. They accommodated all activities that were necessary to be performed for my topic research in fast pyrolysis.
The research that I performed at TU Delft has delivered an insightful finding that chicken litter processed by using high temperature fast pyrolysis could become a quite reliable energy source to replace fossil fuel. In addition, the research also reveals that low temperature fast pyrolysis process is resulted in more production of chars, which could be use as soil amendment and amelioration in agriculture.
As a research student, BRISK2 (through Transnational Access (TA) funding) has provided me with an opportunity to perform a research in overseas research facilities, which have equipment of a high standard and professional researchers. Meeting other researchers from other facilities/institutions have given me a valuable experience of being able to have discussions and get advice and suggestions that help me to perform a better research. Furthermore, through the research in TU Delft, I have obtained a set of reliable data which will be presented in the form of a visual poster in the EUROPEAN Biomass Conference & Exhibition (EUBCE) in Lisbon, Portugal in the coming May of 2019.
Acknowledgement:
I would like to thank TA BRISK2 for the funding and all researchers in TU Delft that assisted me to accomplish the research in fast pyrolysis of chicken litter. I would also like to thank to my supervisor Professor Savvas Tassou, and my colleague Daya Pandey for their support throughout this experimental work.
Figure 1. Mass loss of poultry during TGA analysis (%)
Figure 2. Devolatilization rate of poultry litter in TGA analysis (1 s)
Figure 3. Yield Mass Balance of Poultry Litter (PL)
Figure 4. Gas Fraction from Fast Pyrolysis of Poultry Litter (PL)
Figure 5. Sample preparation by TU Delft Staff
Figure 6. Analysing gas using Micro GC
Figure 7. Preparing Pyroprobe for Fast Pyrolysis
Fig 8. Micro Gas Chromatogram (GC)
Figure 9. Pyroprobe 5000 Series
Figure 10. Thermogravimetric (TGA)
