Prepared feedstock (<10% moisture and 1-2 mm particle size) is fed into the bubbling fluid-bed reactor,
which is heated to 450–500 °C in the absence of oxygen. This is lower than conventional pyrolysis
systems and, therefore, has the benefit of higher overall energy conversion efficiency. The feedstock flashes
and vaporizes like throwing droplets of water onto a hot frying pan. The resulting gases pass into a cyclone
where solid particles, char, are extracted. The gases enter a quench tower where they are quickly cooled
using BioOil already made in the process
The BioOil condenses and falls into the product tank, while non-condensable gases are returned to the reactor
to maintain process heating. The entire reaction from injection to quenching takes only two seconds.
100% of the feedstock is utilized in the process to produce BioOil and char. As the non-condensable gases are
used as energy to run the process, nothing is wasted and no waste is produced. The uncondensed, flammable gases
are re-circulated to fuel approximately 75% of the energy needed by the pyrolysis process.
Three products are produced: BioOil (60-75% by weight), char (15-20% wt.) and non-condensable gases (10-20% wt.).
Yields vary depending on the feedstock composition. BioOil and char are commercial products and non-condensable
gases are recycled and supply a major part of the energy required by the process. No waste is produced in the
Dynamotive process
A fourth product, BioOil Plus, can be produced by adding back the separated char into the BioOil, in a finely
ground form of about 8 microns in size.
