A fully circulating fluid bed pilot plant unit for biomass thermal and catalytic pyrolysis for bio-fuels (biooil) and biochemicals production is included in CERTH facilities. The pilot plant unit, constructed in CERTH, comprises of a catalyst regenerator, a feed-vibrating hopper, a fluidization reactor (that consists of an injector and a riser reactor), a product stripper along with a hot cyclone and a filter housing and finally a product condensation/recovery section. The solid material is circulated through a lift line from the stripper to regenerator. The pilot plant is fully automated based on a special industrial computer control system. The unit can process up to 15 gr/min of biomass (50-800ìm) and can circulate up to 300 gr/min of catalyst or inert material. Reactor temperatures ranging from 450-750°C can be used.

This unit is one of the few (if not the only one) in Europe for biomass pyrolysis studies with circulating fluid bed technology. The unit offers a lot of potential for catalytic studies in biomass pyrolysis for production not only of upgrading fuels but also of biochemicals. It offers the capability to introduced heterogeneous catalysis in biomass studies. This installation is related to CERTH analytical laboratory for the full characterization of the liquid products. In this analytical laboratory all standard measurements of fuels/biofuels are carried out including advanced characterization techniques like 2DGC-TOFMS and GC-MS.