Characterization of bioresidues for biooil production through pyrolysis R. Mythili ⇑ , P. Venkatachalam, P. Subramanian, D. Uma Department of Bioenergy, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, TamilNadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003, TamilNadu, India highlights  1st report on biooil production from Melia Dubia , Polyalthia longifolia , Raintree fruit.  TGA guided pyrolytic temperature.  Model developed to correlate the composition of bioresidues with biooil production. article info Article history: Received 6 October 2012 Received in revised form 22 March 2013 Accepted 23 March 2013 Available online 1 April 2013 Keywords: Bioresidues Cellulose Hemicellulose Pyrolysis Biooil abstract Biomass is a renewable resource utilized to produce energy, fuels and chemicals. In this study, 25 biores- idues were selected and the physical, chemical, thermal and elemental analyses of the residues were studied as per standard methods. The bioresidues were pyrolyzed at 450 °C in a fixed bed reactor to pro- duce biooil. Among the residues, paper (pinfed computer) and Parthenium produced maximum (45%) and minimum biooil (6.33%), respectively. Arecanut stalk, redgram stalk, rice husk, wheat husk, maize cob, coir pith, Cumbu Napier grass Co5, Prosopis wood and paper resulted in a better biooil yield. Models were developed to predict the effect of constituents of bioresidues on the yield of biooil. The volatile matter and cellulose had significant effect on biooil yield. Biooil thus obtained can be used as fuel that may replace considerable fossil fuels. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Fossil fuel shortage and severe environmental problems have drawn more attention on the utilization of clean renewable ener- gies. Biomass is one of the promising renewable energy resources and can be a partial alternate to fossil fuels. The use of biomass can reduce the dependency on the limited fossil fuels and has the advantage of reduced net CO 2 emissions. Biomass includes var- ious natural and derived materials, such as woody and herbaceous species, wood wastes, energy crops, agricultural and industrial res- idues, waste paper, municipal solid waste, grass, waste from food processing, animal wastes, aquatic plants and algae etc. Generation of these residues is increasing every year but due to their lesser advantages, the residues have not found any remarkable applica- tion and have negative market value (Pallav et al., 2006). The current availability of biomass in India is estimated about 120– 150 million tons per annum corresponding to a potential of 18602 MW of electricity generation (Ministry of New and renew- able energy, 2010). Utilization of these residues for energy genera- tion and value addition by different thermo-chemical processes may replace a significant portion of the conventional energy sources for fuel, energy and chemicals supply. Pyrolysis is one of the thermo-chemical processes carried out in the absence of oxygen. It yields carbon-rich char, condensable va- pors and non-condensable gases. The condensed vapor referred as biooil – a dark brown liquid, can be used in boilers, diesel engines for power generation to replace fossil fuels. It can also be a chem- ical source with more than 300 organic compounds. It has environ- mental benefits as a clean fuel and causes less pollution as compared to fossil fuels (Churin and Delmon, 1989). In this study, various bioresidues were selected and their suitability to produce biooil with a higher heating value was investigated. 2. Methods Utilization of lignocellulosic material as feedstock faces prob- lems due to their complex structure and the difficulty to separate their components in an economically feasible way (Meier and Faix, 1999). In this study, 25 lignocellulose materials such as agro-resi- dues, energy crops, grasses, wood and weed were selected to carry out the biooil production. It includes arecanut stalk, cotton stalk, redgram stalk, soybean stalk, paddy straw, arecanut husk, jatropha husk, rice husk, wheat husk, cashew nut shell, coconut shell, 0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.03.161 ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 422 6611276. E-mail address: mythili_sao@yahoo.in (R. Mythili). Bioresource Technology 138 (2013) 71–78 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Bioresource Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech