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Catalytic upgrading of ablative fast pyrolysis vapors with different catalysts

  • As the fuel demands are increasing and oil reserves are depleting, the need for alternative fuels is becoming increasingly necessary. Fast pyrolysis has received considerable attention in the conversion of biomass into bio-oils which can be used for transportation fuel production. However, bio-oil produced from conventional fast pyrolysis has poor quality mainly due to its high amount of oxygenated compounds and requires upgrading before it can be used as transportation fuel. Catalytic upgrading is a prospective process in which oxygen can be removed from the bio-oil using a catalyst, which was studied in this paper. The main objective of this paper is to investigate the catalytic effects of six applied catalysts on the quality of the bio-oil derived from wheat/barley straw biomass. Fast pyrolysis of the biomass feedstock was performed in an ablative reactor at 550 ℃, and the pyrolysis vapors were led through a catalytic layer (at 400 ℃) in a second reactor for upgrading. Different properties were analyzed for evaluating the quality of the upgraded bio-oils, including water content (for calculating organic content), total acid number (TAN), higher heating value (HHV), elemental composition, and chemical composition. It was found that all catalysts, especially activated carbons (SC40 and SC44), reduced the tarry phase yield with increasing aqueous yield, resulting in the upgraded bio-oils with lower carbon and higher oxygen contents due to their catalytic activities. Moreover, the use of catalysts significantly reduced the sulfur content,making the final bio-oils more attractive due to the environmental concerns. SC40 was the best catalyst in increasing phenols yield and decreasing acids and ketones yields. The zeolite catalysts showed good selectivity to phenols production; the increasing load of nickel ions (Ni) on HZSM-5 slightly enhanced the formation of phenols and eliminated the formation of acids and ketones compared to unmodified HZSM-5. The upgraded bio-oil is still not qualified to be used as transportation fuels. However, it can be used as feedstock for producing specific chemicals in the modern refineries.

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Metadaten
Author:Sixiang Lyu
Examiner:Irmgard Buder, Tim Schulzke
Document Type:Bachelor Thesis
Language:English
Date of Publication (online):2018/04/27
Year of first Publication:2018
Publishing Institution:Hochschule Rhein-Waal
Degree-granting institution:Hochschule Rhein-Waal
Date of final exam:2018/02/19
Release Date:2018/04/30
Tag:Activated carbons; Bio-oil; Biomass; Catalytic upgrading; Fast pyrolysis
Number of Pages:89
Faculties and Institutes:Fakultät Kommunikation und Umwelt
Licence (German):License LogoCC BY 4.0 International - Namensnennung