Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

www.elsevier.com/locate/renene

Carbonisation of bagasse in a fixed bed reactor:

influence of process variables on char yield and
characteristics
Surinder Katyal a,∗, Kelly Thambimuthu a,b, Marjorie Valix a
a
Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia 2006
b
Present Address: Group Leader & Senior Research Scientist, Fossil Fuels & Climate Change,
CANMET Energy Technology Center, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa, Canada

Received 26 May 2002; accepted 13 July 2002

Abstract
Carbonisation experiments on samples of sugar cane bagasse were conducted in a static fixed
bed reactor to determine the effect of process variables such as temperature, heating rate, inert
sweep gas flow rate and particle size on the yield and composition of solid product char. Experi-
ments were performed to the final temperatures of 250–700°C with heating rates from 5 to
30°C/min with nitrogen sweep gas flow rate of 350 cc/min. Additional tests were aimed at studying
the effect of different flow rates of nitrogen sweep gas from 0 to 700 cc/min during carbonization
and different particle size fractions of bagasse. The results showed that as the carbonisation
temperature was increased, the yield of char decreased. The reduction in yield was rapid up
to a final temperature of 500°C and was slower thereafter. The yield of char was relatively
insensitive to the changes in heating rate and particle size. Increasing the sweep gas flow rate
to 350 cc/min reduced the yield of char. It appears the presence of inert sweep gas reduced
secondary reactions which promoted char formation. The proximate analysis of the char sug-
gests that fixed carbon and ash content increased with temperature. The char obtained at tem-
peratures higher than 500°C have high carbon content and is suitable as renewable fuel and
for other applications. The carbonization of bagasse has the potential to produce environmental
friendly fuels and can assist in reducing deforestation for the production of charcoal.
 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Bagasse; Carbonisation; Temperature; Heating rate; Sweep gas; Particle size; Volatile matter;
Fixed carbon

∗
Corresponding author. Fax: 61-2-9351-2854.
E-mail address: skatyal@chem.eng.ustyd.edu.au (S. Katyal).

0960-1481/03/$ - see front matter  2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 6 0 - 1 4 8 1 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 1 1 2 - X
714 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

1. Introduction

The importance of biomass materials as a renewable, inexpensive and abundant

source of energy is widely recognized. The decreasing reserves of fossil fuels and
resultant negative effects of their use in terms of generation of greenhouse gases,
acid rain and changes in climate has also renewed the interest in utilisation of
biomass materials as fuel [1]. Biomass materials hold special promise for developing
countries, which use biomass materials extensively or import fossil fuels to meet
their energy demands. In countries like Australia, the use of biomass materials is
also encouraged to meet the government’s commitment to provide 2% of energy
through renewable sources [2].
Bagasse is one such biomass material that is generated in large quantities during
the processing of sugar cane in sugar mills. Bagasse offers the advantage of being
a cheap, plentiful and low polluting fuel. In Australia approximately 11.4 million
tons of wet bagasse is produced annually [2]. On the average, bagasse contains about
45–50% moisture, 43–52% fiber, and 2–6% soluble solids [3]. The typical compo-
sition of bagasse fiber is about 26.6–54.3% cellulose, 22.3–29.7% hemicellulose, and
14.3–24.45% lignin [3,4]. Bagasse is characterized as a low-density fiber and by its
wide particle size distribution (less than 100 µm to greater than 10 cm). Bagasse is
used primarily in the sugar mills to meet their own internal energy needs. A part of
the surplus is also used in paper, pulp and board manufacture, compost, cattle feed,
and ethanol manufacture [3]. The burning of bagasse in sugar mills for meeting
internal energy needs, though justified on practical and economic grounds, is inef-
ficient and wasteful. There has been a significant interest in converting this residue
into higher energy dense products by means of pyrolysis, carbonisation, liquefaction,
gasification and combustion. This study is focussed on the carbonisation of bagasse.
Carbonization is defined as the extensive thermal degradation of the carbonaceous
component in the absence of air, or in the presence of inert gas. During this process,
the volatiles are removed in the form of oxides of carbon and hydrogen to enrich
the carbon content in the solid char. Slow heating rates, coupled with a low final
heating temperature and long gas and solid residence time, maximizes the yield of
char by secondary coking and repolymerisation reactions. However, if the heating
rate is maintained between 20 and 100°C/min with maximum temperature of 600°C,
then liquid and gas yields are markedly increased at the expense of char yield [1,5].
There has been a considerable amount of interest in producing oil and liquid fuels
from biomass materials recently, with studies being done to optimize the oil yield and
quality [5–9]. Char is a better fuel than the precursor biomass and finds application as
a fuel, in the ferroalloy, aluminum, copper, tobacco and cement industries; and for the
production of chemicals, and activated carbon [10]. Though a considerable amount of
studies have been conducted on combustion and on biological conversion, carbonis-
ation has received less interest. Most of the research studies in the past have focussed
on the theoretical rather than the practical aspects of carbonization. The thermal
degradation behaviour of bagasse and its components has been studied under both
an inert and an oxidizing atmosphere using thermogravimetric analysis at low heating
rates in low temperature regions [11–16] and at high heating rates [7,17]. These
 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725 715

studies provide information about the degradation behaviour of bagasse at various

temperature ranges, the nature and amount of volatile evolved from bagasse, and the
reaction kinetic parameters such as activation energy, pre-exponential factor and
order of reaction. However, there seems to be a wide variation in the reported values
of the kinetic parameters in these studies. This appears to be due to the difference
in the characteristics of the constituent components of bagasse, heating rates and
mechanisms adopted for the calculations. A few studies have also been conducted
to study the pyrolysis behaviour of bagasse on laboratory and pilot scale tests
[6,15,18,19]. The effect of process variables on the pyrolytic product yields and
characteristics have been reported. However, there is still a considerable lack of
understanding, and gaps in the effect of process variables such as the inert sweep
gas, heating rate, particle size on the solid product yield and composition and car-
bonization kinetics of bagasse. The objective of this work is to investigate the influ-
ence of various carbonization conditions on the thermal degradation of bagasse and
in particular, solid char yield and its quality.

2. Experimental

2.1. Materials

Sugar cane bagasse was obtained from the CSR Sugar mill in New South Wales,
Australia and was preserved in suitable containers to prevent extraneous contami-
nation. As bagasse is a very heterogeneous material containing various fibrous frac-
tions of different properties, a large and uniform sample lot of bagasse was carefully
selected and placed in an oven and dried at 105°C. The various samples of bagasse
used in this study were drawn from this dried sample for all experiments to maintain
the uniformity and homogeneity of the starting material. The samples of bagasse
taken for this experimental work were obtained by grinding bagasse to size range
of ⬍0.85 mm. However, for experiments studying the effect of particle size the
bagasse sample was sieved to obtain various size fractions which included: ⬎4.75
mm, 2.38–4.75 mm, 1.40–2.38 mm, 0.85–1.40 mm, 0.6–0.85 mm and 0.25–0.60 mm.

2.2. Method

The carbonisation experiments were conducted in a batch fixed bed reactor. This
is a vycor glass tube of approximately 29 mm internal diameter and 90 cm in length.
The tube reactor was heated using an external tube furnace. A thermocouple was
used to measure the temperature of the bulk of the sample placed in the middle
section of the sample bed in the reactor. A PID controller was used to control the
final temperature and heating rate. The reactor was continuously purged with inert
nitrogen. A needle valve and a pre-calibrated rotameter were used to meter the gases
into the reactor. The experimental set up is shown in Fig. 1. Approximately 3 gm
of dry bagasse was used for each experiment and placed in the reactor. Four sets
of experiments were conducted to study the effect of process variables including
716 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of carbonization apparatus.

temperature, heating rate, inert sweep gas flow rate and particle size. The particle
size of bagasse for all the experiments, with the exception of the samples used to
study the effect of particle size was in the range of ⬍0.85 mm. The samples were
heated to temperatures between 250°C–700°C with heating rates between 5°C/min
to 30°C/min. The flow rate of nitrogen, which acted as inert sweep gas flow rate,
was maintained at 350 cc/min for all these experiments. To study the effect of inert
sweep gas flow rate, the experiments were conducted at four nitrogen flow rates of
0, 35, 350 and 700 cc/min and at the final temperatures of 300°C and 500°C with
a constant heating rate of 5°C/min. To study the effect of particle size, the bagasse
particles of different size fractions were heated to a final temperature of 600°C with
the heating rate of 5°C/min.
Each experiment was conducted at the desired heating rate and flow rate of inert
sweep gas to the final programmed temperature and carbonised for a total period of
45 min. After each experiment the char yield was obtained from the final weight of
the char, and the volatiles yield was established from the difference of initial bagasse
weight and the char weight. The char was further characterized to determine the
proximate analysis. The yield of the samples was expressed based on dry weight of
bagasse and is reported within the experimental error of ±1.0 wt.%. The values of
yield and proximate analysis in this work represent the average value obtained from
two tests.

3. Results and discussions

3.1. Composition of bagasse

A typical proximate analysis of bagasse is given in Table 1. These values are

similar to those previously reported for bagasse [3,4,6,11–15,17–19]. Bagasse has a
very high volatile matter and low ash content and appears to be suitable for pyrolysis
 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725 717

Table 1
Proximate analysis of bagasse (wt. %)

Moisturea 8.20
Volatile matterb 83.10
Ashb 4.20
Fixed carbonb,c 12.70

a
As received basis
b
Moisture free basis
c
By difference

and gasification. The ash content of 4.2% is higher than that reported for wood
[4,5,11,20]. The ash content and its composition are important factors for biomass
use in thermochemical processing due to its catalytic activity [1,21–23]. Analysis of
bagasse ash by X-ray fluorescence technique showed the major components of ash
are Si, Al, Fe, K, Ca, Ag, and the minor components are Te, Zn, Cu, Co, Mn, Ti,
and P.
As suggested above, the carbonisation conditions have a significant effect on the
char yield and composition. The effect of these various parameters is discussed as fol-
lows:

3.2. Effect of temperature

The effect of the final heating temperature on the yield of solid char from carbonis-
ation of bagasse is shown in Fig. 2. As the pyrolysis temperature is increased for

Fig. 2. Effect of carbonization temperature on yield of char at various heating rates.

718 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

each heating rate, the yield of char decreased, with a corresponding increase in the
volatiles (gas and liquid) yield. Previous studies on pyrolysis of bagasse [6,15,18]
and on wood and biomass material [21,22] have also shown similar trends. Below
300°C, mass loss (conversion) is low and significant degradation occurs between
300 and 500°C. The high yield of char at low temperatures indicates that the material
has been only partially pyrolysed and is consistent with the expected degradation of
bagasse in these conditions. The thermal degradation of lignocellulosic biomass
materials such as bagasse starts around 100°C, though the rate and degree of deterio-
ration is very negligible up to 200–225°C. The degradation of extractives occurs
between 100–250°C and that of hemicellulose and amorphous portion of cellulose
begins around 210°C and continues up to 350°C, yielding predominantly the con-
densable volatiles such as methanol, acetic acid and furfural. The degradation of
cellulose and lignin mainly occurs between 350–500°C yielding combustible gases
and condensable liquid tar, and lignin predominantly decomposes after 500°C, yield-
ing mainly char [11,21,23]. Previous studies based on thermogravimetric analysis of
bagasse under inert conditions supports this degradation profile and suggest that the
degradation starts at 200–225°C and continues up to 400–425°C with peak rate of
devolatilisation occurring around 350°C [12–16,24]. The mass loss after 500°C is
negligible and char yield decreases only by about 3–4% when pyrolysed between
500–700°C. The char yield attains the ultimate value of around 19% after 700°C,
irrespective of the heating rate.

3.3. Effect of heating rate

The effect of the heating rate on the product yield at various temperatures is shown
in Fig. 3. As the heating rates selected for the study were far lower than those
approaching fast or flash pyrolysis, the influence of this parameter on the yield of

Fig. 3. Effect of heating rate on the yield of char at different carbonisation temperatures.
 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725 719

char and volatiles was not significant. Nonetheless, the higher heating rate showed
lower char but higher volatile yield, which is more pronounced at temperatures lower
than 400°C when compared to higher temperatures. The yield of char at 700°C is
almost similar (about 19%) for all the heating rates. This suggests the negligible
effect of heating rate at higher temperatures on the total volatiles released from the
biomass. Mackay [25] also reported that the effect of the heating rate on char yield
from lignocellulosic materials is exerted below 500°C, which is consistent with that
observed in this study.
The heating rate influences the rate of volatile evolution from the biomass. The
higher heating rate above 400°C promotes rapid volatile evolution. The molecular
disruption is extremely fast and volatile fragments are released so rapidly that suc-
cessive adjustments and equilibrium leading to further primary reactions that yield
char have less opportunity to take place [9,26]. The lower heating rate and higher
volatile residence time allow equilibrium reactions to promote higher char yield
[9,26].

3.4. Effect of inert sweep gas flow rate

The effect of inert sweep flow rate on the pyrolysis products was studied at flow
rates between 0–700 cc/min. The results are shown in Fig. 4. It can be observed that
the yield of solid char decreases with the increasing flow rate of inert gas. The char
yield arising from self-pyrolysis of bagasse in the absence of inert sweep gas is higher
compared to when inert sweep gas is present. The char yield at 300°C decreased from
54.0–39% when flow rate of inert gas increased from 0 cc/min to 700 cc/min. The
corresponding decrease at 500°C is from 31 to 20%. This behaviour is associated

Fig. 4. Effect of nitrogen flow rate on the yield of char at the heating rate of 5°C/min for two different
temperatures.
720 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

with the loss of pyrolytic volatiles with the flowing inert gas which minimizes the
volatiles’ involvement with the reacting char. The sweep gas removes the volatile
products from the hot zone to minimize secondary reactions, such as thermal crack-
ing, repolymerisation and recondensation [8–9,27]. The char yield is reduced signifi-
cantly as the sweep gas flow rate is increased to 50 cc/min. As the flow rate is
increased further, the reduction in char yield is significantly lower. This trend is
observed both at 300°C and 500°C. The literature pertaining to pyrolysis behaviour
of coal and oil shale suggests that the inert sweep gas greatly influences the yield
of oil product from pyrolysis. The yield of oil increases progressively as the inert
sweep gas is increased. However, Yorgun [8] suggests that, for the case of biomass
such as sunflower-extracted bagasse, this behaviour is somewhat different as the
mass transfer restrictions to volatiles are much less compared to coal, due to the low
bulk density and higher oxygen content of biomass. No previous study has been
reported to corroborate this hypothesis for sugar cane bagasse. This study indicates
that the minimum sweep gas flow rate to maintain the carbonization of bagasse to
yield optimum quantity of oil could be close to 350 cc/min.

3.5. Effect of particle size

The effect of particle size on the char yield, as shown in Fig. 5, seems to be
relatively small as compared to the effect of other process parameters. The char yield
increases slightly with significantly increasing the particle size from 0.250–0.60 mm
to ⬎4.75 mm. The reasons for the lack of change in char yield as a result of particle
size could be due to the similarity in the overall composition of each fraction, and
problems in size separation imposed by particle shapes. The shape of the fibre may
have affected the size separation particularly in samples of smaller particle size.
Different samples may possibly contain particles of almost similar diameter but of
different lengths, which may behave similarly in pyrolysis reactions. Furthermore,

Fig. 5. Yield of char for different particle sizes of bagasse at the heating rate of 5°C/min and final
temperature of 600°C.
 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725 721

the different particle sized bagasse samples may contain a different proportion of
true fibre, rind, pith, vessel segments and other non-fibrous fractions which are
characterized by different physical and structural properties such as shape, size,
length, diameter, and to some extent different chemical properties and ash content
[3]. Once sieved, the proportion of these components may separate into various sized
fractions giving a relatively similar composition and thus thermal behaviour. There-
fore, the pyrolysis behaviour may be due to a different percentage of each of these
fractions in each sample, rather than to the size of the particles.
A possible reason for the observed minor increase in char yield with particle size
could be that smaller sized particles are heated more uniformly and thus heat and
mass transfer are easily facilitated. This results in a higher mass loss and reduction
in char yield. Larger particles may experience a higher heat transfer resistance that
results in lower interparticle temperatures and lower volatiles yield [9,26,28]. The
higher volatile residence time in the larger particles can result in a greater possibility
of secondary reactions. Zanderson [18] also reported that the rate of heating of sugar-
cane bagasse is intimately related to particle size with fine fraction heated at a higher
rate as compared to coarse fraction of bagasse.

3.6. Product characterization

The proximate analyses of chars produced at different temperatures, heating rates,

nitrogen flow rate and particle sizes are given in Tables 2–4. It can be observed
that the volatile matter content of the char decreases continuously with increasing
carbonization temperature. Below 300°C, the reduction in volatile matter is low. The
volatiles lost under this condition are possibly due to evolution of water and the
decomposition of volatile extractive components and hemicellulose. The rapid drop
in volatile content between 300°C and 500°C is due to decomposition of cellulose

Table 2
Proximate analysis of char produced at different carbonisation temperature and different heating rates
(moisture free basis)

Heating Rate (°C/min) Temperature (°C)

250 300 400 500 600 700

5°C/min
Volatile Matter (%) 75.10 63.40 32.00 22.65 15.95 11.40
Ash (%) 5.05 6.30 10.75 14.50 18.10 20.60
Fixed Carbon (%) 19.85 30.30 57.25 62.85 65.95 68.00
20°C/min
Volatile Matter (%) 77.30 65.20 35.20 26.05 18.05 12.95
Ash (%) 4.95 6.10 10.25 13.75 18.10 19.95
Fixed Carbon (%) 17.75 28.70 54.55 60.20 63.85 67.10
30°C/min
Volatile Matter (%) 76.40 64.75 36.15 25.50 18.50 13.55
Ash (%) 4.80 5.95 9.95 14.10 18.50 20.50
Fixed Carbon (%) 18.80 29.30 53.90 60.40 63.00 65.95
722 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

Table 3
Proximate analysis of char produced at different flow rate of inert sweep gas and two temperatures
(moisture free basis)

Temperature (°C) Nitrogen Flow Rate (cc/min)

0 35 350 700

300°C
Volatile Matter (%) 58.05 61.30 63.40 63.20
Ash (%) 7.20 6.90 6.30 6.90
Fixed Carbon (%) 34.75 31.80 30.30 29.90
500°C
Volatile Matter (%) 18.90 21.10 22.65 21.90
Ash (%) 15.70 14.90 14.50 15.10
Fixed Carbon (%) 65.40 64.00 62.85 63.00

Table 4
Proximate analysis of char produced from different particle sized bagasse (moisture free basis)

Particle size ⬎4.75 mm 2.38–4.75 mm 1.40–2.38 mm 0.60–1.40 mm 0.25–0.60 mm

Volatile matter (%) 18.65 23.10 18.30 15.95 16.00

Ash (%) 16.20 13.90 18.50 18.10 27.10
Fixed carbon (%) 65.15 63.00 63.20 65.95 56.90

and lignin, releasing a variety of volatiles, both tar and non-tar forming compounds
[11,29]. A further drop in the volatile content is very low above 500°C. The corre-
sponding increase in fixed carbon and ash content with temperature is due to removal
of volatile matter leaving the more stable carbon and ash-forming inorganic matter
in the biomass. The fixed carbon, as high as 68–69%, is achieved for chars pyrolysed
at 700°C. Though the ash content in bagasse char at 18–20% is higher than wood
charcoal, the bagasse char will still be suitable for a variety of applications such as
renewable fuel, activated carbon and feedstock for the production of chemicals.
Lower heating rates result in chars with higher fixed carbon and lower volatile
matter content. This is consistent with previous studies which reported that low tem-
peratures and longer residence times favour the formation of chars exhibiting high
yield, higher carbon content, calorific value and lower density [10,30]. Lower flow
rates of nitrogen gas result in chars with higher fixed carbon. This is possibly due
to the condensation and interaction of evolved volatiles with reacting solids leading
to increased carbon content. The possibility of equilibrium char forming steps is
more likely to occur at low heating rates and low inert sweep gas flow through the
reactor. The composition of char obtained from various particle sizes of bagasse show
no consistent behaviour. As suggested previously, this may result from similarity in
composition arising from sieving, and the poor size separation which arises from
particle shapes of fibers. However, as the smaller fractions of bagasse (0.25–0.60
mm) contain more ash content than larger fractions (⬎1.40 mm), the resultant chars
 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725 723

also showed higher ash content (approximately 27%). It may seem appropriate to
remove smaller fractions from bagasse before carbonisation to reduce ash in chars
produced.
The physical appearance of chars obtained at temperatures of 250°C was light
brown in colour and little appreciable change in size of the material was observed.
The material also retained its fibrous character. The char obtained at 300°C appeared
dark brown and showed more shrinkage and fragility. Chars obtained at higher tem-
peratures manifested noticeable changes, being black in colour, very fragile, light,
and sticky. The material turned into fine dispersed form from a fibrous structure.
There was an appreciable change in cross-sectional diameter and in length and the
reduction in bulk volume of bagasse was noted to be approximately 60–80%. The
low bulk density of the chars means that they may suffer from handling and pro-
cessing difficulties and may require granulation or pelletilisation before actual utiliz-
ation. Previous studies on bagasse chars have also reported similar results [6,18].
The chars obtained at temperatures higher than 500°C showed a very high carbon
content and are suitable as domestic and industrial fuel. These can also be used in
the ferroalloy, aluminum, copper and tobacco industries; for production of chemicals
such as carbon disulphide, silicon carbide, sodium cyanide, and carbon black; and
as soil conditioners, firework, and pharmaceuticals applications [10]. It has been
reported that the bagasse chars have the potential to be upgraded as activated carbons
which has many applications in water purification and in the removal of impurities
and odour from solutions such as raw sugar solution [31–33]. Conventionally, the
charcoal is obtained from wood, which results in deforestation. The production of
charcoal from sugarcane bagasse and other similar biomass can ease the pressure on
wood and can provide an environmental friendly, economically and technologically
viable alternative.

4. Conclusions

In this study, carbonization experiments were conducted to establish the effect of

various parameters on the thermal degradation behaviour of bagasse and on char
yield and quality. The following conclusions can be drawn from the results obtained
in this study:

1. Carbonization temperature is the most significant parameter among all the para-
meters studied that influences the char yield and quality.
2. The major degradation of bagasse occurs between 300°C and 500°C and leads to
rapid reduction in char yield between these temperatures. Further reduction in
char yield at temperatures above 500°C is 3–4% and attains the final value of
about 19–20% at 700°C irrespective of other parameters.
3. The influence of heating rate on the yield of char and volatiles is significant below
400°C. The higher heating rate led to lower char but higher volatile yield.
4. The presence of sweep gas reduces the char yield by removing volatile product
724 S. Katyal et al. / Renewable Energy 28 (2003) 713–725

and prevents secondary reactions to produce more char. The effect of sweep gas
flow is effective up to 350 cc/min.
5. The particle size has little effect on the yield and composition of chars. This could
be associated with similarity in behaviour of fractions, the mixing of fractions
during sieving and poor size separation.
6. The char undergoes changes in colour, form, size and bulk volume as the tempera-
ture is increased. The fixed carbon content of char increases with temperature and
attains a very high value (approximately 69%) at 700°C. The high carbon content
of char makes it suitable to act as a fuel, activated carbon and feedstock.
7. Bagasse has the potential to replace the traditional wood sources for charcoal
production and can assist in prevention of deforestation.

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