Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis: A Review

Abstract

Catalytic pyrolysis is a promising thermochemical conversion route for lignocellulosic biomass that produces chemicals and fuels compatible with current, petrochemical infrastructure. Catalytic modifications to pyrolysis bio-oils are geared towards the elimination and substitution of oxygen and oxygen-containing functionalities in addition to increasing the hydrogen to carbon ratio of the final products. Recent progress has focused on both hydrodeoxygenation and hydrogenation of bio-oil using a variety of metal catalysts and the production of aromatics from bio-oil using cracking zeolites. Research is currently focused on developing multi-functional catalysts used in situ that benefit from the advantages of both hydrodeoxygenation and zeolite cracking. Development of robust, highly selective catalysts will help achieve the goal of producing drop-in fuels and petrochemical commodities from wood and other lignocellulosic biomass streams. The current paper will examine these developments by means of a review of existing literature.

Characterization of minerals content in olive cake and bakery wastes: application in animal nutrition and bio-fuel production

“…Varying levels of minerals in different biomass products affected the composition and the yield of liquid thermal products after pyrolysis (Eom et al, 2012;Patwardhan et al, 2010). Enhancing pyrolysis reactions have been reported to improve the properties of bio-fuel by the removal of oxygenated compounds via water and carbon dioxide, reducing molecular weight and changing the chemical structures to products that similar to petrochemical compounds (Dickerson & Soria, 2013). The presence of metal cations have been reported to enhance the homolytic breakdown of pyranose ring bonds over the heterolytic breakdown of glycosidic linkages, consequently, increase the formation of light oxygenate decomposition products at the expense of levoglucosan formation (Lin et al, 2015).…”

Analysis of Structural Units and Their Influence on Thermal Degradation of Alkali Lignins

“…Thus, biomass is considered a sustainable energy source that can be a substitution for fossil fuels. As existing infrastructures require hydrocarbons for manufacturing goods, such a substitution capability would allow the reuse of existing petrochemical industry infrastructures to produce petroleum-like products (Serrano-Ruiz and Dumesic 2011;Dickerson and Soria 2013). As one of the main components in lignocellulose biomass (accounting for 18 to 40 wt.%), lignin is one of the only nonpetroleum resources that can provide renewable aryl compounds in nature.…”

Altering bio-oil composition by catalytic treatment of pinewood pyrolysis vapors over zeolites using an auger - packed bed integrated reactor system

“…MBMS and Py-GCMS, though offers rapid catalyst screening and online analysis of product bio-oils, the yields and product distribution of catalytic pyrolysis cannot be ascertained. Moreover, these studies involve the use of very high heating rates (1000 o C/min) and high catalyst to biomass ratios (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20) (Carlson et al, 2008;Carlson et al, 2009;French and Czernik, 2010). Use of such high heating rates and catalyst to feed ratios is not quite feasible in conventional processes.…”