Biomass pyrolysis for nitrogen-containing liquid chemicals and nitrogen-doped carbon materials

A novel biomass pyrolysis technique was proposed that introduced exogenous nitrogen for the production of nitrogen-containing chemicals and nitrogen-doped bio-char materials. The influence of NH3 and KOH addition on bamboo pyrolysis was investigated using micro-gas chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy, accelerated surface area and porosimetry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis. The introduction of NH3 slightly increased bio-oil yield and the production of nitrogen-containing species at the expense of phenols and aromatics. Specific surface area, overall nitrogen content and the number of nitrogen-containing functional groups of the solid biochar also increased significantly, while H-2 content of the evolved gas spiked significantly. Meanwhile, the addition of KOH increased bio-char yield with an increased in spetific surface area up to 1873 m(2) g(-1) Furthermore, the specific capacitance of the bio-char electrodes reached to 187 F g(-1), indicating excellent capacitive performance. Results showed biomass nitrogen-enriched pyrolysis was a promising method for more efficient utilization of biomass resources. (C) 2016 Published by Elsevier B.V.