N-doping of biomass by ammonia (NH3) torrefaction pretreatment for the production of renewable N-containing chemicals by fast pyrolysis

Abstract In this work, ammonia (NH3) torrefaction pretreatment was developed for the production of nitrogen-enriched lignocellulosic biomass and the production of N-containing chemicals via subsequent fast pyroysis process. Results showed that the content of nitrogen in biomass was significantly increased from 0.03% to 7.59% as the torrefaction temperature increased. XPS analysis showed that nitrogen-doped biomass mainly contained three types of N-containing functional groups, such as quaternary-N, pyrrolic-N, and pyridinic-N. Higher torrefaction temperature promoted the formation of pyrrolic-N, and quaternary-N, but inhibited pyridinic-N. Py-GC/MS analysis showed that higher torrefaction temperature and higher pyrolysis temperature both promoted the formation of N-containing chemicals (pyridines, pyrroles, and amines), which reached a maximum abundance of 19.89%. Amines were the dominant components in N-containing chemical fraction, accounting for 85.27% of the total chemical fraction. Lower torrefaction temperature and lower pyrolysis temperature were preferred for the production of pyridines and pyrroles.