The Evritania (Greece) demonstration plant of biomass pyrolysis

This paper is focused on describing the Evritania demonstration plant for pyrolysis of forestry biomass. This plant was constructed in the village of Voulpi, district of Evritania, in Central Greece, in 1995, with a threefold purpose; development of know-how, forest fire prevention and rural development. The products are charcoal and bio-oil. The plant capacity is 1200–1450 kg/h of wet biomass and the pyrolysis temperature is approx. 400°C. The raw material used is Arbutus unedo, which is an evergreen broad-leaf tree which covers the area. Other agricultural waste could also be used, such as olive pits and cuttings, almond shells and cotton kernels. The paper includes the conceptual process flow sheet, the changes and improvements made during the trial phase, data from the start-up phase, and product characteristics. Comparison of the process with the Alten process is presented. Additionally, comparisons are made of product characteristics with those from other pyrolysis processes. In general, the results obtained are encouraging even though several improvements of the pilot plant are required.