Towards an eco-social circular economy exploring the feasibility study of pyrolysis on agricultural feedstocks [dataset]

The agricultural sector is challenging to decarbonise due to its reliance on heavy machinery and fossil fuels, which face issues when decarbonising via methods such as electrification. However, agriculture provides opportunities to generate renewable energy via biomass sources due to their abundance within this sector. This feasibility study used a continuous auger pyrolysis system to assess how straw waste from a medium-scale arable farm could convert energy from an external electrical source into usable chemical potential. Wheat, barley, oil seed rape (OSR), and bean straw have all been processed and pyrolysed under diferent temperatures and auger feed rates. The syngas product was then analysed, considering its composition and the lower heating value. Results indicate that the percentage of carbon monoxide and hydrogen and the total volume of syngas increased with temperature. In addition, the syngas’ energy quantity increased despite the product’s decreasing heating value. The case study’s annual energy demand was equal to 14.4% of the 3900 GJ maximum potential contained within the syngas, and thus it can be concluded that there is potential for the application of this system towards a circular economy. The system’s cold gas, net, and electrical conversion efficiency were also assessed with maximum values of 37.1%, 30.1%, and 174.4%, respectively. Furthermore, the statistical analysis confirms high predictability for wheat, barley, bean, and OSR feedstocks, with a general linear model showing high accuracy across all.

农业领域因依赖重型机械与化石燃料，采用电气化等方式脱碳时面临诸多阻碍，脱碳难度颇高。不过，农业部门内部生物质资源储量丰富，为通过生物质途径制取可再生能源创造了有利条件。本可行性研究采用连续螺旋钻热解系统（continuous auger pyrolysis system），探究中型耕地农场产生的秸秆废弃物如何将外部电能转化为可利用的化学势能。研究人员对小麦、大麦、油菜籽（oil seed rape, OSR）及豆类秸秆开展了不同温度与螺旋钻进料速率下的热解实验。随后对所得合成气（syngas）的组分与低热值（lower heating value）进行了分析。结果显示，一氧化碳、氢气的占比以及合成气总体积均随温度升高而增加。此外，尽管合成产物的低热值有所降低，但其总能量却有所提升。本案例研究的年度能源需求仅相当于合成气最大潜在产能（3900吉焦）的14.4%，由此可得出结论：该系统具备应用于循环经济的潜力。研究还评估了该系统的冷煤气效率、净效率及电能转换效率，其最高值分别可达37.1%、30.1%与174.4%。此外，统计分析表明，小麦、大麦、豆类及OSR原料的预测性良好，广义线性模型（general linear model）在所有原料上均展现出较高的拟合精度。