Syngas production from pyrolysis of furnace oil /

Abstract

Furnace oil finds a great potential in power generation in Pakistan because refineries are producing it at a large rate. Poor quality fuel burning in power plants is the main cause behind smog. Prime Minister has issued orders for the closure of furnace oil based power plants in order to maximize the consumption of LNG. Due to rapid closure of furnace oil based power plants, refineries are facing storage issues at the plant site. They need to blend it with some other valuable fuel or to sell it at a depressed value in solid fuel market. They are in search of various up-gradation techniques for conversion of furnace oil in to some valuable fuel. In this research thesis, potential of furnace oil in energy production as well as pyrolysis technology, its basic principles and some of the factors that affect pyrolysis products resulting from furnace oil has been studied. Pyrolysis has been employed as a conversion method for furnace oil. Furnace oil has been pyrolyzed under certain conditions and resulted in generation of fuels. The pyrolysis of furnace oil was carried out at various flow rates of N2 (30-70 ml/min) and temperatures (650-900⁰C) in a tubular pyrolysis chamber at atmospheric pressure. A critical comparison of pyrolysis parameters followed by resulting product yields and compositions has been made for furnace oil pyrolysis. It was observed that temperature; carrier gas flow rates had profound effects on the conversion of furnace oil as well as product distribution. The maximum gas yield of 65.78% was obtained at 900⁰C because of high thermal cracking. Higher nitrogen flow rates resulted in high liquid yield because of short residence times of furnace oil in the pyrolysis chamber. It is investigated that furnace oil can produce energy and green chemicals containing negligible amount of sulphur. The recovered syngas from furnace oil mainly consists of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane that can be utilized in various applications such as power generation, petro-chemicals, liquid fuel synthesis etc. The recovery of valuable gases from pyrolysis proves to be a better mean for energy security over traditional destructive approaches.