Design, Manufacturing and Testing of Pyrolysis System for Biochar Production from Water Hyacinth (“Emboch”)
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Date
2020-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Aquatic biodiversity of Lake Tana, that is the largest lake in Ethiopia, is at extreme risk due to
the aggressive water hyacinth, locally named as Emboch. It causes a health risk on animal in
the lake and decline the economic activities of the lake. Because of this problem huge amount
of water hyacinth has been removed from the water surface and thrown to the landfill without
considering for other uses. Finding innovative technology to produce biochar from water
hyacinth is very crucial to save the lake. The main objective of this paper is to design,
manufacture and test pyrolysis system to produce biochar from water hyacinth.
The overall methods used for this research is described as follows. Water hyacinth biomass
collected and prepared; three dimensions of screw reactor is modelled by solid work 2018
software and continuous screw reactor has been manufactured and tested to produce biochar
from water hyacinth. The biochar produced from water hyacinth feedstock. The experiment was
conducted using the pyrolysis temperature reached 500
C screw reactor. Characterization of
water hyacinth biomass and its biochar has been done by proximate and ultimate analysis. Also
the energy content has been measured by bomb calorimeter.
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Based on experimental result, the conversion efficiency of biochar produced from steam and
leaves is 68 % and 65.71 % respectively. The energy yield of leaves and stems of biochar are
70.05 % and 72.35 % respectively and approximately 656 kg of biochar can be generate daily.
Optimum temperature has a significant effect on the produced biochar. From the result of test
were pyrolysis temperature is increased the biochar yield is decreased.
Based on the result, the volatile matter of produced biochar from water hyacinth decreases by
40.87% and the moisture content of the produced biochar from water hyacinth decreases by
37.94% with respective to the feedstock while fixed carbon of produced biochar from water
hyacinth increases by 59.381% with respective to the water hyacinth biomass. The measured
lower heating values of the produced biochar is 15.39MJ/kg while the lower heating values of
water hyacinth biomass is 14.425MJ/kg. Based on the experiment results, biochar produced
from water hyacinth higher energy content than the water hyacinth feedstock. This, producing
biochar from water hyacinth have a significant benefit by solving aquatic biodiversity problem,
reducing environmental impacts of water hyacinth, used for charcoal or soil improvement.
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Keywords
Biochar, water hyacinth, Emboch, moisture content, pyrolysis, continuous screw reactor