Nestor Tancredi

Pyrolysis is a promising thermochemical conversion method that can produce solid, liquid or gaseous products from forest biomass. In this study, eucalyptus wood chips were processed using slow pyrolysis in a prototype-scale agitated reactor. Batch pyrolysis was carried out on a 100 g sample of biomass with a heating rate of 10 °C/min. The process was conducted at three final temperatures: 400 °C, 450 °C, and 500 °C. For each temperature, residence times of 30 and 60 min were applied once the target temperature was reached. The biochars produced at each temperature were studied to verify their applications. The yield was in the range of 24–27% on a dry basis. The biochars showed characteristics appropriate for energy and environmental applications, such as improving soil properties. The bio-oils were mixed and analyzed using the GC-MS method. The yield was between 43 and 46%. When tested as a potential wood-modifying agent, the bio-oil achieved a weight percent gain of 23.41% compared to the control samples and enhanced the dimensional stability of the wood.

An alternative to mitigate the consumption of fossil fuels is the use of biomass as an energy source. In this sense, the rural sector in Latin America has great potential due to its multiple biomass sources. For this reason, this study aims to analyze potential technologies related to the production of energy from biomass and its application in the Latin American rural sector. To achieve this, four key processes are analyzed. First is biomass conditioning through solar dryers. Next are the thermochemical processes that allow for their transformation into biofuels, for which the pyrolysis and the hydrothermal methods were selected due to the flexibility of the products obtained. Subsequently, cogeneration is studied to produce electrical and thermal energy from biomass or its derivatives. Finally, to close the CO₂ cycle, a balance of CO₂ fixation in a forest plantation is presented as an example of carbon accumulated in biomass. The literature systematic review allowed us to determine that the technologies mentioned in this work have different degrees of implementation in the Latin American rural sector. However, they have great potential to be applied on a large scale in the region, making it possible to adapt energy production to climate change and improve the life quality of its inhabitants.

An electrical double-layer capacitor (EDLC) is based on the physical adsorption/desorption of electrolyte ions onto the surface of electrodes. Due to its high surface area and other properties, such as electrochemical stability and high electrical conductivity, carbon materials are the most widely used materials for EDLC electrodes. In this work, we study an activated carbon felt obtained from sheep wool felt (ACF’f) as a supercapacitor electrode. The ACF’f was characterized by elemental analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), textural analysis, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The electrochemical behaviour of the ACF’f was tested in a two-electrode Swagelok^®-type, using acidic and basic aqueous electrolytes. At low current densities, the maximum specific capacitance determined from the charge-discharge curves were 163 F·g⁻¹ and 152 F·g⁻¹, in acidic and basic electrolytes, respectively. The capacitance retention at higher current densities was better in acidic electrolyte while, for both electrolytes, the voltammogram of the sample presents a typical capacitive behaviour, being in accordance with the electrochemical results.