3690
Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 2003, 42, 3690-3699
Flash Carbonization of Biomass Michael Jerry Antal, Jr.,* Kazuhiro Mochidzuki, and Lloyd S. Paredes Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
We describe the ignition and control of a flash fire at elevated pressure (≈1 MPa) within a packed bed of biomass. The fire moves upward through the bed, against the downward flow of air, triggering the transformation of biomass into gas at elevated pressure, and charcoal with fixedcarbon yields that reach the thermochemical equilibrium “limit” in