Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Alcell Lignin with Nano-NiO

Abstract

Catalytic fast pyrolysis of Alcell lignin with various additive ratios (5%, 10%, and 15%, mass ratio) of nano-NiO was investigated using a horizontal pyrolyzer. Characterization methods, including Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), gas chromatography (GC), gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), and elemental analysis, were utilized to identify the catalytic fast pyrolysis products. The results indicated that the nano-NiO catalyst had remarkable effects on the yield and quality of these products. The formation of gases, especially CO, CO2, and CH4, were greatly promoted when the additive ratio increased, while the formation of bio-char was clearly inhibited. However, when the additive ratio was 10%, the maximum yield of bio-oil (53.09 wt.%) was obtained, and the corresponding maximum higher heating value (HHV) was 25.33 MJ/kg. Furthermore, nano-NiO caused a large variation in the species of the compounds in bio-oil. Operating with the optimal nano-NiO additive ratio (10%), the carbon conversion rate was 65.50%, and the energy conversion rate was 74.53%.

Catalytic Stepwise Pyrolysis of Technical Lignin

“…Different kinds of catalysts have been adopted in the pyrolysis reactor, such as metal chlorides, metal oxide catalyst, and zeolites (Mullen and Boateng 2010;Neumann and Hicks 2012;Asadieraghi et al 2015;Chen et al 2015b). Zeolites are the most commonly used catalysts in the literature for catalytic pyrolysis of lignin because of their special pore structure and acid sites that can induce oligomerization, dehydration, deoxygenation, demethoxylation, and aromatization reactions .…”