(327e) Catalytic Conversion of Pinyon-Juniper Into Upgraded Biooils

Pinyon-juniper woodlands occupy over 47 million acres of Southwestern USA including Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and southwestern California.  This consists of various species of pine and juniper.  In the State of Utah pinyon-juniper occupies 20% of the land and the dominant species are Utah juniper (Juniperus utahensis) and pinyon pine (Pinus edulis).  The pinyon-juniper woodland is becoming a major problem in Utah because of forest fires.  These woody species are being harvested to reduce forest fires but there are no immediate applications for this biomass. A potential application of this biomass is to convert it into thermochemical fuels and chemicals.  Samples of pinyon-juniper harvested by the US Bureau of Land Management were obtained for these studies.  The biomass mixture which consisted of bark, leaves, and wood were ground to pass 2-mm mesh screen. The samples were pyrolyzed in a bench scale fluidized bed pyrolysis reactor in the presence of sand, red mud, and zeolite catalysts.  The yield of biooil produced with sand was highest (63 wt%), but it also had the highest viscosity of almost 500 cP at 40 C.  The red mud and zeolite catalysts produced less biooils (40 wt%), but the viscosity of the oil was considerably lower (200 CP) compared to the biooil from the sand.  Both the zeolite and the red mud produced more gases than the sand pyrolysis medium.  The viscosities of pinyon-juniper biooils were much higher those produced from hybrid poplar wood and this was attributed to the higher nitrogen content of the feed emanating from its higher leaf content.