Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and

Environmental Effects

ISSN: 1556-7036 (Print) 1556-7230 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ueso20

Characteristics evaluation of bio-char produced

by pyrolysis from waste hazelnut shell at various
temperatures

Chenxi Zhao, Xianli Liu, Aihui Chen, Juhui Chen, Wei Lv & Xiaogang Liu

To cite this article: Chenxi Zhao, Xianli Liu, Aihui Chen, Juhui Chen, Wei Lv & Xiaogang Liu
(2020): Characteristics evaluation of bio-char produced by pyrolysis from waste hazelnut shell at
various temperatures, Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects,
DOI: 10.1080/15567036.2020.1754530

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ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2020.1754530

Characteristics evaluation of bio-char produced by pyrolysis from

waste hazelnut shell at various temperatures
Chenxi Zhaoa,b, Xianli Liua,b, Aihui Chenc, Juhui Chena, Wei Lva, and Xiaogang Liua
a
School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, China; bKey
Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing and Intelligent Technology, Ministry of Education, Harbin University of
Science and Technology, Harbin, China; cHeilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Machinery Sciences, Heilongjiang
Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, China

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Pyrolysis experiments of hazelnut shells were conducted by tube furnace Received 21 August 2019
pyrolysis reactor at 400–1,000°C. The results indicated that the effect of pyr- Revised 1 April 2020
olysis temperature on yield and characteristics of bio-char was significant. With Accepted 3 April 2020
the deepening of carbonization, bio-char yields decreased, approximately KEYWORDS
50 wt% of VM were released, and the concentration of FC increased by 47 wt Waste hazelnut shell;
%. The optimum for HHV (33.3 MJ/kg) and combustion reactivity was at 900°C pyrolysis; pyrolysis
and 700°C, respectively; the adsorption capacity of bio-char was optimal and temperature; bio-char;
was determined by BET surface area and iodine absorption value (respectively characteristics
197.3 m2/g and 595.4 mg/g) at 800°C. The results provided a strong support for
bio-char application from discarded hazelnut shell pyrolysis.

Introduction
The increased consumption of fossil fuels leads to severe environmental pollution and energy
shortages, the research on alternative fuel feedstock must be conducted (Budde et al. 2019).
Biomass is a renewable and sustainable resource of fuels and chemicals (Patel, Agrawal, and Rawal
2020), and it could be converted to valuable products by fully processing (Kok and Özgür 2017).
Among various processing technologies, pyrolysis technology is an effective method to utilize waste
biomass resource (Dussan, Dooley, and Monaghan 2019).
Bio-char is the solid co-product of pyrolysis process, and it can be used as fuel or raw material for
the production of valuable chemicals and high value-added products. Changes in the physicochem-
ical properties of bio-char mainly depend on experimental feedstock and operating condition; the
development of pyrolysis process is the significant study for optimal energy conversion (Mahmood
et al. 2019). During recent years, the application of bio-char is widely concerned in terms of
environment, agriculture, and industry. Wu et al. (2012) reported that bio-char could be used as
an effective and multipurpose biomass precursor for potential fertilizer and soil amendment. Leng
et al. (2015) studied that pyrolytic char can be applied as activated carbon and adsorbents through
appropriate activation methods. Vardon et al. (2012) proposed that pyrolytic char was a valuable
feedstock for energy production; in addition, the above achievements were also verified by
Barbanera, Cotana, and Matteo (2018) and Yao et al. (2017).
The extensive studies on pyrolysis characteristics of various residual biomass feedstocks were
proceed, indicating that the experimental parameters of pyrolysis have the greatest influence on the
yields and characterization of solid products, especially temperature (Aysu and Durak 2016).
Hazelnut shell is a great potential of woody resource and left during hazelnut processing, which
holds about 40 wt% of hazelnut, it can be transformed to valuable bio-char via pyrolysis. Some

CONTACT Chenxi Zhao Zhaochenxi312@outlook.com School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Harbin University of
Science and Technology, Harbin 150080, China
© 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
2 C. ZHAO ET AL.

related researches have also been conducted, for example Haykiri-Acma (2006) and Haykiri-Acma
et al. (2013) studied the influence of pretreatment method on characteristics of hazelnut shell, and
some properties of pyrolytic char obtained from hazelnut shell were researched by Haykiri-Acma,
Yaman, and Kucukbayrak (2012) and Licursi et al. (2017). However, most previous studies measured
a certain property of hazelnut shell char by a single perspective and means, it is difficult to provide
comprehensive and multi-angled information for further bio-char application.
In this paper, the pyrolysis experiment of hazelnut shell was conducted on tube furnace pyrolysis
reactor, and the role of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and characteristics of bio-char product
was focus to analyze. Moreover, for producing bio-char, fuel application was measured in several
ways of the proximate analysis, heating value and combustion performance; adsorbent application
was evaluated by the specific surface area and pore diameter distribution and iodine adsorption
value. The main purpose of the research is to evaluate the characteristics related to bio-char
applications in multiple perspectives and methods, and to provide a useful reference for further
application and utilization of hazelnut shell char.

Materials and methods

Materials
Hazelnut shell samples (collected in Tieling city, Liaoning province, China) were used to carry out
pyrolysis experiments in this study. The feed-stocks were grinded and sieved to 75–380 µm, and
dried in a convection oven at 45°C until constant weight. All measurements were performed by at
least three experiments repeating, and the results were averaged and expressed by standard deviation
analysis. Proximate analysis was based on the ASTM standards (Park et al. 2014); ultimate analysis
was carried out using a CE-440 organic elemental analyzer (standard deviation: ≤0.1%); three main
composition analysis (cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin) was determined by Van Soest method
(Van Soest 1963), it is not listed for other minor components analysis including natural resin,
tannin, protein, and so on; the higher heating value (HHV) was measured by a BYTRL-8000
microcomputer automatic calorimeter (standard deviation: ≤0.15%), the above results are reported
in Table 1. The thermal-analysis curves was analyzed by a STA409 thermo-gravimetric analyzer
(enthalpy accuracy: ≤1%, temperature accuracy: ±0.1°C), as shown in Figure 1.
To compare the results of traditional biomass (including rice husk, corn straw, wheat straw,
soybean straw, cotton stalk, and rape stalk) in the Phyllis Database, the ratio of volatile matter (VM)
and fixed carbon (FC) in hazelnut shell sample was lower; C and O contents held a larger portion,
N and S contents were lower, evidencing that hazelnut shell sample is a green, clean energy. And the
higher lignin content could promote higher char yield and better char quality, the HHV was higher
due to lower ash content in sample, similar to sawdust (19.9 MJ/kg) (Hu et al. 2017). Observed from
the Figure 1, the main thermal degradation temperature of hazelnut shell occurred in the tempera-
ture range of 300–800°C, the maximum weight loss rate was acquired at 458°C and there was still
27% solid residue left at 1,050°C, the phenomenon can be attributed to abundant lignin content in
hazelnut shell sample.

Experimental procedure
Hazelnut shell was pyrolyzed at 400–1,000°C by tube furnace pyrolysis reactor combined with
a quartz tube (800 mm length, 25 mm internal diameter), as shown at Figure 2. A flow of N2
(80 mL/min) was supplied in the processing of pyrolysis experiment, the reactor was pre-heated at
a rate of 10°C/min, when the selected temperature stabilized, hazelnut shell samples (20 g) started to
burn at the center position, the time was 20 min. After each trial, when the reactor cooled to ambient
temperature, the bio-chars were collected, whose yield was determined as the ratio of pyrolytic char
and hazelnut shell weight.
Table 1. Physico-chemical properties of hazelnut shell samples.
Proximate analysis (wt%) Ultimate analysis (wt%) Composition analysis (wt%)
Moisture Ash VMa FCb,c C H Oc N S Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin HHV (MJ·kg−1)
3.47 ± 0.17 0.63 ± 0.06 73.08 ± 1.26 22.82 ± 0.78 46.21 ± 0.65 4.85 ± 0.18 47.52 ± 0.79 0.08 ± 0.01 0.71 ± 0.02 22.42 ± 0.76 26.77 ± 1.25 38.35 ± 1.01 20.06 ± 0.81
a
Volatile matter; bFixed carbon; cBy subtraction.
ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
3
4 C. ZHAO ET AL.

Figure 1. Thermo-analysis curves at 10°C/min for hazelnut shell sample.

1. Nitrogen bottle; 2. Reducing valve; 3. Nitrogen flowmeter; 4. Temperature

controller; 5. Quartz tube; 6. Thermocouple; 7. Pyrolysis furnace; 8. Ice water

condenser; 9. Mixed gas flowmeter; 10. Air collection bag.

Figure 2. Schematic diagram of hazelnut shell pyrolysis system.

Bio-char characterization
The analytical procedure on proximate analysis, ultimate analysis, HHV of bio-char have been described
in section Materials; combustion characteristic was also measured by a STA409 thermo-gravimetric
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 5

analyzer, ignition temperature (Ti) and burnout temperature (Te) were determined by TG-DTG plot,
comprehensive index (S) was calculated by the following equation (David et al. 2012).
Wmax  Wmean
S¼
Ti 2 Te
where Wmax and Wmean are the maximum combustion rate and the average combustion rate, %/min,
respectively.
The porous textures (including the specific surface area, pore volume, and pore size distribution)
of bio-char samples were investigated on a 3H-2000PM1 surface analyzer (the relative error is less
than 1.5%) using the conventional nitrogen adsorption and desorption isotherms, the specific surface
area was evaluated by Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) equation, and pore volume and pore size
distribution was specified by Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) mode, and the bio-char samples were
pretreated in a glass tube under vacuum condition of 150°C for 6 h; the iodine adsorption value was
determined by chemical method to evaluate the sorption capacity of bio-char (Zhao et al. 2018).

Results and discussion

Yields
The yields of bio-char at various temperatures can be found in Table 2, it is obvious that the
pyrolysis temperature played an important role on the bio-char yields. When the temperature
increased from 400°C to 1,000°C, the solid yields decreased by about 33%, and the reduction rate
firstly was greater in the temperature range of 400–800°C, then became smaller at 800–1,000°C. Also,
the results presented higher bio-char yields compared with other commonly used raw materials
(such as rice husk, corn straw, wheat straw) for pyrolysis (Demirbas 2006; Tripathi, Sahu, and
Ganesan 2016), it mainly attributed to higher lignin content in hazelnut shell.
The result on reduced bio-char yields may be explained in different ways. Jie et al. (2019) and
Zhao, Jiang, and Chen (2017) defined that thermal decomposed characteristics was linked mostly to
the content of lignin and partly cellulose and hemicellulose in biomass raw material. As the pyrolysis
temperature increased, solid feedstocks were massively and rapidly pyrolyzed along with the
significant loss of VM, however, with the further increasing temperature, mostly cellulose and
hemicellulose have been completely decomposed into volatiles so that the reduction rate of bio-
char yields decreased. Also, there is an explanation regarding the contribution of ash, while it
showed little influence in this article since the low content of ash in hazelnut shell samples. In
addition, Giudicianni et al. (2014) considered a catalytic role of mineral matter on the formation of
bio-char products in the pyrolysis process.

Physico-chemical properties
The proximate analysis, ultimate analysis and HHV of bio-char are shown in Table 2. With the
temperature increased from 400°C to 1,000°C, ash content of prepared bio-char slowly increased by
about 3.2 wt%, VM lost about 50.2 wt%, FC showed a significant rise (47 wt%). It indicated that bio-
char further released volatiles and became more carbonaceous, the reducing bio-char yields sup-
ported the result; this is favorable for improving char quality and HHV, while higher ash content
could cause negative impact.
As for ultimate analysis, when the temperature increased from 400°C to 1,000°C, only C held an
increasing curve contrary to the decreasing trend of other chemical element (H, O, N and S), which is
related to the less of volatiles during the pyrolysis progress. Furthermore, a set of Van Krevelen data are
presented for studying aromaticity structure of bio-char, the development of aromatic structure is usually
indicated via the decrease of H/C and O/C. During the pyrolysis, the lowering rate of H/C and O/C
slowed down gradually, it showed that the higher pyrolysis temperature promoted the formation of more
 6
C. ZHAO ET AL.

Table 2. Yields and physico-chemical properties of bio-char.

Proximate analysis (wt%) Ultimate analysis (wt%)
Temperature H/C O/C HHV
(°C) Yields (wt%) Ash VM FCa C H Oa N S (mol·mol−1) (mol·mol−1) (MJ·kg−1)
400 49.04 ± 0.85 1.25 ± 0.04 57.11 ± 1.09 41.64 ± 0.95 55.27 ± 1.89 3.25 ± 0.04 39.66 ± 1.23 0.10 ± 0.00 0.47 ± 0.02 0.71 ± 0.02 0.54 ± 0.02 25.18 ± 0.58
500 44.01 ± 1.17 1.67 ± 0.09 50.46 ± 0.85 47.87 ± 0.53 64.91 ± 1.07 2.39 ± 0.06 30.61 ± 1.04 0.07 ± 0.00 0.35 ± 0.01 0.44 ± 0.01 0.35 ± 0.01 27.33 ± 0.15
600 37.92 ± 1.41 1.93 ± 0.06 42.35 ± 0.51 55.72 ± 0.85 70.66 ± 1.67 1.92 ± 0.03 25.19 ± 0.85 0.05 ± 0.00 0.25 ± 0.01 0.33 ± 0.01 0.27 ± 0.01 29.21 ± 0.59
700 31.15 ± 1.31 2.51 ± 0.11 29.28 ± 0.56 68.21 ± 0.74 76.34 ± 2.25 1.46 ± 0.04 19.48 ± 0.86 0.03 ± 0.00 0.18 ± 0.01 0.23 ± 0.01 0.19 ± 0.01 31.04 ± 0.97
800 23.87 ± 1.18 3.08 ± 0.12 14.07 ± 0.96 82.85 ± 0.58 81.05 ± 1.57 1.01 ± 0.03 14.71 ± 0.65 0.02 ± 0.00 0.13 ± 0.00 0.15 ± 0.00 0.14 ± 0.01 32.27 ± 0.43
900 20.15 ± 0.44 3.79 ± 0.18 9.43 ± 0.49 86.78 ± 1.32 83.12 ± 2.01 0.67 ± 0.01 12.32 ± 0.61 0.01 ± 0.00 0.09 ± 0.00 0.10 ± 0.00 0.11 ± 0.00 33.32 ± 0.31
1000 16.01 ± 0.43 4.42 ± 0.13 6.94 ± 0.34 88.64 ± 0.97 84.38 ± 1.28 0.53 ± 0.02 10.60 ± 0.51 0.01 ± 0.00 0.06 ± 0.00 0.08 ± 0.00 0.09 ± 0.00 32.76 ± 0.67
a
By subtraction.
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 7

stable bio-char products, and agreed with the main outcomes of the conducted research by Xia et al.
(2019). The better results could be accomplished by selecting appropriate pyrolysis temperature to
economize energy.
In addition, during the heating process, there was a rise in HHV of bio-char to the largest value at 900°C,
while HHV decreased with further heating; it is because that at the beginning of heating, the loss of hazelnut
shell weight accompanied by the rapid release of volatiles (including low heating value and nonflammable
gases), which led to a significant increase in the energy of pyrolytic char, while in the later period, the release
of volatiles with HHV caused a mass loss of energy, faster than the decreasing weight rate, the energy of
pyrolytic char decreased (Yang et al. 2014). In general, the HHV (25.2–33.3 MJ/kg) of all produced bio-chars
indicated their good prospects as fuels, the details referred to the Standard Classification of Coals by Rank.

Combustion characteristic
The combustion characteristic parameters are shown in Table 3. With an increase of pyrolysis
temperature from 400°C to 1,000°C, both of Ti and Te showed an increasing trend, the continual loss
of VM and reduction of active ingredients in bio-char led to an increase of Ti, and the increasing ash
content blocked carbon ingredient burnout in bio-char caused the higher Te (Sheng 2007), while it is
known that the lower Ti and Te were easier to be ignited and burned out as fuel; To evaluate the
intensity by measuring Wmax and Wmean, it first increased, then decreased at higher temperature, S is
an authoritative and comprehensive index to measure the combustion performance as fuel, reached
the largest value at 700°C. It indicated that pyrolytic char prepared at condign pyrolysis temperature
possessed better combustion characteristic, excessive pyrolysis temperature would weaken combus-
tion characteristic of bio-char. Namely, Table 3 shows S for all obtained bio-chars (except bio-chars
at 1,000°C) exceed 2 × 10−8, meaning good combustion performance similar to semi-anthracite and
medium volatile bituminous coal (López et al. 2013).

Specific surface area and pore diameter distribution

The specific surface area is an important characterization parameter to determine adsorption
capacity of bio-char; the details are shown in Figures 3 and 4.
As the temperature increased, BET surface area rapidly increased from 35.4 m2/g at 400°C to
197.3 m2/g at 800°C, it is because that VM released quickly at higher temperature created pore structures
of bio-char, more evenly arranged pores and porous adsorption structure started to appear (such as there
are more small pores or micropores existed in the interior of the bigger pore), which contributed to
a larger BET surface area. While with further increasing of temperature, BET surface area decreased to
106.3 m2/g at 1,000°C, it is explained that excessive temperature caused further dehydration and
aromatization of the carbon skeleton in bio-char, many micropores were widen to mesopore or
macropore, or even pore structures were destroyed by further polycondensation and ash melting
occurred in bio-char, which led to a smaller BET surface area (Zhao et al. 2017). BET surface area is
mostly derived from micropore surface area, thus the change in micropore surface area was accordance
with BET surface area, it went up to the maximum (158.1 m2/g) at 800°C and then fell down.

Table 3. Combustion characteristic parameters of bio-char.

Temperature (°C) Ti (°C) Te (°C) Wmax (%·min−1) Wmean (%·min−1) S × 108
400 348 ± 6.26 663 ± 9.94 2.06 ± 0.03 0.99 ± 0.03 2.54 ± 0.07
500 362 ± 4.07 668 ± 4.46 2.52 ± 0.09 1.14 ± 0.04 3.28 ± 0.07
600 371 ± 3.47 676 ± 9.31 2.88 ± 0.08 1.27 ± 0.05 3.93 ± 0.09
700 379 ± 5.36 685 ± 9.53 3.19 ± 0.04 1.35 ± 0.07 4.38 ± 0.05
800 397 ± 3.10 697 ± 7.82 2.87 ± 0.06 1.29 ± 0.03 3.37 ± 0.04
900 416 ± 4.65 710 ± 4.74 2.55 ± 0.08 1.21 ± 0.03 2.51 ± 0.05
1000 436 ± 4.08 725 ± 5.51 2.21 ± 0.03 1.12 ± 0.02 1.80 ± 0.04
8 C. ZHAO ET AL.

Figure 3. Specific surface area and iodine adsorption value of bio-char.

Figure 4. Pore volume and pore size distribution of bio-char.

In addition, the ratio of micropore volume and total pore volume exhibited consistent trends to BET
surface area and micropore surface area, raised from 0.2 at 400°C to 0.7 at 800°C and then dropped to 0.5 at
1,000°C. It is indicated that micropore played a key role in adsorption capacity of bio-char, and condign
pyrolysis temperature contributed to the formation of more developed micropore structure in samples
(Faramarzi, Kaghazchi, and Ebrahim 2015), the values on average pore diameter showed in Figure 4
supported the result. However, the adsorption parameters of all obtained bio-chars are no ability to assume
 ENERGY SOURCES, PART A: RECOVERY, UTILIZATION, AND ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS 9

sorbent, thus further research related to activated carbon is vital for achieving desired bio-char application as
adsorption products.

Iodine adsorption
The iodine absorption value is used to determine microporous characteristic and micromolecule
adsorption capacity, a larger value represents abundant microporous construction existed in bio-char
and further prospect for adsorption application. The pyrolysis temperature has significant influence
on the iodine absorption value, as shown in Figure 3.
With the increase of pyrolysis temperature, iodine absorption value (595.4 mg/g) of bio-char
produced at 800°C was higher than that of other selecting pyrolysis temperatures. This can be
explained as follows: at the temperature of 400–800°C, various pore network in bio-char was
gradually developed, improving the adsorption capacity of bio-char; however, further thermal
decomposition took place at higher temperature (800–1,000°C), which widen the micropores, and
even broke the generated micropores into hole, reducing adsorption capacity of bio-char, it is similar
to the change mechanism of specific surface area and pore diameter distribution.

Conclusions
Overall, the pyrolysis experiment of hazelnut shell was conducted on tube furnace pyrolysis reactor,
and the influence of pyrolysis temperature on the yield and characteristics of bio-char product was
analyzed; moreover, the characteristics related to fuel and adsorbent application of bio-char in
multiple perspectives and methods were evaluated, different from most previous studies on hazelnut
shell char. The results showed that the yield and characteristics of bio-char produced from waste
hazelnut shell pyrolysis significantly changed affected by pyrolysis temperature. With the increase of
pyrolysis temperature from 400°C to 1,000°C, bio-char yield considerably decreased, bio-char further
released VM and became more carbonaceous, the concentration of FC was in the range of 41.6–-
88.6 wt%, the H/C and O/C decreased, which improved bio-char quality. The high HHV and good
combustion reactivity of all produced bio-chars indicated their good prospects as fuels, and the
optimum temperature was 900°C and 700°C, respectively. At 800°C, BET surface area and iodine
absorption value of pyrolytic char reached the maximum (respectively 197.3 m2/g and 595.4 mg/g)
benefited by abundant micropore structure, it showed a defect on adsorption capacity for obtained
bio-char and need to be further improved as adsorption products.
Further investigations related to the influence of other important aspects (such as heating rate,
time, catalyst, and so on) on pyrolysis products characteristics will be carried out. As a result, all
pyrolysis by-products derived from waste hazelnut shell could be effectively used in the social,
environmental, economic fields, the issues referred to energy shortage and clean waste resource
utilization could be resolved.

Declaration of interest statement

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51406045), the Natural Science
Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (E2017049), the Fundamental Research Foundation for Universities of
Heilongjiang Province (LGYC2018JC039), the Science Funds for the Young Innovative Talents of HUST (201504), and
the National Science and Technology Support Project (2014BAA07B05).
10 C. ZHAO ET AL.

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