Pyrolysis

This chapter details information about new intermediate pyrolysis processes that are used to pyrolyse biomass, plastics as well as electronic scrap, to illustrate the range of opportunities, in the case of understanding, underlying processes and adapted reactor design. It deals with the more advanced pyrolysis types for fast and intermediate pyrolysis. The chapter gives an overview of reactors and discusses the principal differences between fast and intermediate pyrolysis. The difference between pyrolysis reactor systems usually can be seen in the way heat transfer units are used. By means of fast pyrolysis, thermal energy is transferred within seconds into the organic material and the resulting vapours are removed from the hot reaction zone also within seconds. Intermediate pyrolysis differs from fast pyrolysis in terms of the heat transfer to the feed.