Biochar production from firethorn plant (Pyrancantha coccinea) fruits

Today, intensive studies are carried out to provide energy production from renewable sources all over the world. Biomass resources on a global scale are one of the most important renewable energy alternatives. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the biofuel production from the fruit of the fire thorn plant, which is very common as an ornamental plant and attracts attention with its high fruit yield. Torrefaction process was applied in biofuel production. The yields and properties of the torrefied products were examined. For this purpose, torrefaction process was applied to fire thorn fruit in a fixed bed reactor at three different temperatures (220, 250, 280oC) and different times (0, 10, 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes). The effects of temperature and processing time on the yields of solid, liquid and gaseous products were investigated. Particles size analysis, proximate and ultimate analyzes, compositional analysis Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) to reveal the thermal degradation behaviour, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (FTIR) analysis were performed for the characterization of raw fruits and torrefied fruits. As the temperature increases, the solid product yield decreases. In parallel with this, liquid product yields increase. It was determined that there was not much difference in the yield of solid and liquid products at the end of the 60-minute treatment period. As a result of the proximate analysis, it was observed that fixed carbon ratio increased with the severity of torrefaction. While the amount of volatile matter decreases with the torrefaction temperature, the amount of ash increases. As a result of the compositional analysis, it was seen that %64.89 of the fire thorn fruit consisted of soluble chemical structures such as mostly sugar. It was seen that the fire thorn fruits contain mostly cellulose after sugars and very little hemicelluloses. It was observed that gross calorific value of the obtained biochar increased with the torrefaction temperature. It was observed that the torefaction temperature with the highest energy efficiency of the torrefaction process was 220oC and fire thorn fruits have shrinkaged as the torrefaction temperature increased.