Enhanced bio-oil deoxygenation activity by Cu/zeolite and Ni/zeolite catalysts in combined in-situ and ex-situ biomass pyrolysis

Publication date: Available online 14 March 2019Source: Journal of Analytical and Applied PyrolysisAuthor(s): Ravinder Kumar, Vladimir Strezov, Emma Lovell, Tao Kan, Haftom Weldekidan, Jing He, Sayka Jahan, Behnam Dastjerdi, Jason ScottAbstractThe presence of oxygenated compounds in pyrolytic oil makes it highly acidic and unsuitable energy source for real-world applications. In-situ and ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis have been considered the most significant approaches to convert these oxygenated compounds into hydrocarbons or less oxygenated compounds, thereby increasing the carbon and hydrogen content in the bio-oil and improving its overall quality. A remarkable conversion of oxygenated compounds could also be achieved using a combined in-situ and ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis approach. Therefore, this study aimed to prepare Cu10%/zeolite and Ni10%/zeolite catalysts using a wet-impregnation method and investigate their potential for bio-oil upgrading in a combined in-situ and ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis mode and the results were compared with sole in-situ and ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis. In combined pyrolysis, Cu/zeolite was used in-situ and Ni/zeolite in ex-situ mode with four different catalyst to biomass (C/B) ratios (2, 3, 4 and 5). Interestingly, the results demonstrated that the combined pyrolysis with a C/B ratio of 5 achieved the higher deoxygenation activity (˜98%) and total hydrocarbon production (˜72%) as compared to sole in-situ (C/B ratio of 5) or ex-situ cataly...

Source: Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis - March 15, 2019 Category: Chemistry Source Type: research