Catalytic Pyrolysis of Pine Wood Sawdust to Produce Bio-oil: Effect of Temperature and Catalyst Additives

Abstract

In this work, non-catalytic pyrolysis of Turkish pine (Pinus brutia Ten.) wood sawdust was performed in a fixed-bed reactor at various temperatures to obtain the optimum conditions to achieve a maximum bio-oil yield. The highest yield of bio-oil was obtained about 46 wt% at 550 • C for non-catalytic pyrolysis. At the optimum conditions, the effects of different catalyst types (KOH, ZnCl 2 , and ZnO) and amount of catalyst (5, 10, 15, and 20 wt%) on the pyrolysis product yields and bio-oil properties were investigated. The presence of catalysts changed the product distribution considerably. Increasing the amount of catalyst led to a decrease in the yield of liquid product, while the gas and char yields increased compared to non-catalytic pyrolysis. The chemical compositions of bio-oil were determined with GC-MS analyses. It was determined that bio-oils contain a large variety of organic compounds, such as furans, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, acids, benzenes, alcohols, alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The catalysis by KOH significantly increased the levels of phenols, while it reduced the formation of acids and aldehydes. ZnCl 2 produced bio-oil with high percentages of aldehydes. Moreover, ZnO reduced the proportion of PAH in the bio-oil. These results demonstrated that bio-oils could improve with a catalyst. Therefore, catalyst selection for high bio-oil quality is crucial in industrial applications.

Pyrolytic Behavior of Major Biomass Components in Waste Biomass

“…Pyrolysis bio-oils are mixtures of about 200 organic compounds. It was reported that all determined compounds can be classified into nine groups: furans, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, acids, benzenes, alcohols, alkanes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [ 39 ]. The characterized chemical compounds of bio-oils are used in different industrial fields due to their unique properties [ 40 ].…”

Modeling of Bio-Oil Production by Pyrolysis of Woody Biomass: Artificial Neural Network Approach

“…The effect of the catalysts on bio-oil yield is attributed to decomposition reactions accelerating with the chemical additives [35,45]. The next parameters that affect the bio-oil yield were the biomass characteristics (C, H, O, moisture, volatiles, ash content, fixed carbon) and the catalyst ratio (7.2%-10.9%).…”

“…This result is supported by earlier works. Özbay [35] reported that the use of KOH as a catalyst caused a decrease in the liquid yield. Guedes et al [32] stated that in spite of the lower oil yield, catalytic pyrolysis improves the quality of the final product.…”

“…The parameters that affect the pyrolysis products are particle size, heating rate, pyrolysis temperature, holding time (duration), feedstock type, and the addition of catalyst [31][32][33]. The various types of catalysts are used in pyrolysis process to improve the quality of the pyrolysis liquid product [34][35][36][37]. Zhao and Li [38] examined the impact of catalyst (NaCl) additives on pyrolysis bio-oil.…”

Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Corn Stalk for Phenols Production With Solid Catalysts

“…The results showed that the unmodified and modified TiO 2 catalyst was favorable for the conversion of lignin into phenolic derivative monomer compounds, which increased by 11.6% compared with the blank group (Lu et al, 2010). Günay (2015) studied the catalytic effects of KOH, ZnCl 2 and ZnO on the pyrolysis of pine wood chips. The results showed that the addition of ZnCl 2 increased the content of aldehydes in biological oil, whereas ZnO had a negative effect on the formation of aromatic hydrocarbons.…”