Experimental and kinetic modeling study of pyrolysis and combustion of anisole

Fast biomass pyrolysis is an effective process with high yields of bio-oil, and is a promising technology to partially replace non-renewable fossil fuels. Bio-oils are complex mixtures with a large amount of oxygenated organic species, such as esters, ethers, aldehydes, ketones, carboxylic acids, alcohols, and substituted aromatic components. Anisole is a simple surrogate of primary tar from lignin pyrolysis and it is very useful to investigate gas-phase reactions of methoxy-phenol species, expected precursors of poly-cyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and soot during biomass pyrolysis and bio-oil combustion. This work first presents new pyrolysis data obtained in the Ghent flow reactor, and then it discusses a detailed kinetic mechanism of anisole pyrolysis and oxidation. This scheme is further validated and compared, not only with these pyrolysis data, but also with recently published data of anisole oxidation in jet stirred reactors. Ignition delay time and laminar flame speed computations complement these detailed comparisons. This kinetic mechanism is a first step and places the basis towards a successive model extension to catechol, guaiacol, and vanillin, as representative phenolic components of bio-oil from biomass.