The Occidental Research Corporation (formerly Garrett Research and Development Company, Inc.) has developed a new Flash Pyrolysis process which can produce up to two barrels of synthetic fuel oil from a ton of dry cellulosic solids. This report presents the results of a four-phase laboratory, pilot plant, product evaluation and engineering evaluation program to study the pyrolytic conversion of Douglas fir bark, rice hulls, grass straw and animal feedlot waste to synthetic fuel oil and char. With the use of an existing 4 ton/day pilot plant, good quality products were obtained from all feedstocks except animal waste. A wax by-product was obtained from the pyrolysis of fir bark and grass straw. Excellent pilot plant material balances were obtained for oil production runs on Douglas fir bark and rice hulls, and these were satisfactorily combusted in a standard test boiler. Similar yields were obtained from semi-quantitative runs using grass straw. The pyrolytic chars from tree bark and rice hulls were evaluated as a source of activated carbon, and tree bark char was satisfactorily compressed to produce excellent quality charcoal briquettes. The economic evaluation shows that a 1200 dry ton/day tree bark conversion plant could be built and operated with a profit of about $10/ton of dry bark. The breakeven point for this process to produce synthetic fuel oil and char for briquettes appears to be 300 dry tons of bark/day.

Prepared by Occidental Research Corporation, La Verne, Calif., under Grant S-801202. Issued May 1977. Includes appendixes. Includes bibliographical references (page 149).