Inventory Data for the Pyrolysis of Waste Wood

Pyrolysis is becoming a promising technology for waste wood resource recovery. To perform a life cycle assessment (LCA) of this technology, inventory data were collected from relevant studies published in 2000–2023, which included 67 and 31 data sets for untreated wood (UW) and wood-based composites (WBC), respectively. Proximate and ultimate analyses of raw waste wood and pyrolysis products were summarized and compared. The average ash contents were 1.04% ± 0.91% for UW and 2.65% ± 3.52% for WBC, and WBC exhibited a higher nitrogen content than UW. Correlations between pyrolysis products, raw materials, and different temperatures were demonstrated. Pyrolysis yield, energy yield, and pyrolysis gas composition were statistically analyzed. The average weights of the char, gas, and liquid fractions per kilogram of input were 0.26 ± 0.10, 0.33 ± 0.16, and 0.41 ± 0.13 (kg/kg) for UW, respectively. Char yield was higher at low temperature than at high temperature, whereas gas yield was higher at high temperature and heating rate than at low temperature and heating rate. The energy yield of char and liquid was much higher than that of gas at low temperature, while the energy yield of char and gas was higher than that of liquid at high temperature. The average energy distributions at low temperatures were 44.4% ± 11.2% for char, 45.4% ± 14.4% for liquid, and 15.0% ± 10.5% for gas. Gas yield and composition varied substantially at different temperatures. Statistical analysis in terms of energy consumption was not conducted due to the lack of these data in the original references. This study provides inventory data for waste wood pyrolysis that can be employed in feasibility assessments and LCA studies.