Continuous Saturated Steam Assisted Low‐temperature Pyrolysis of Corncobs and Selective Production of Furfural

Abstract

A facile and selective furfural production technology was introduced by using corncobs as raw materials under saturated steam atmosphere in a fixed bed reactor. It was found that Al2(SO4)3 catalyst has showed a good selective performance with furfural selectivity 64.2% (15.8 wt%). The optimal conditions were pyrolysis temperature 230 °C, steam flow 10 g/min (160 °C) and catalyst loading 7.5 mmol. The reaction parameters such as pyrolysis temperature, catalyst loading and steam flow rate all displayed a positive effect on both corncob conversion and furfural selectivity.The higher steam flow displayed a positive effect on furfural dissolving and products desorption. Removal degree of hemicellulose on each catalytic condition analysis indicated that hemicellulose depolymerization was mainly promoted by lower temperature pyrolysis, and furfural selected production was mainly affected by catalytic effect. This technology provided a low‐cost and low‐temperature catalytic reaction to synthesize furfural, which shows a great potential in industrial production.

Effect of Temperature and MgCl2 Concentration on the Catalytic Pyrolysis of Malt Waste Using Response Surface Methodology

“…[3,4] This process is normally carried out in the total or partial absence of oxygen, at a temperature range of 400-600 °C. [5] Many industrial wastes, such as plastic waste, [6,7] spent tire, [8] tetra pak residue, [9] cellulose, [10,11] lignin, [12] sugarcane bagasse, [13][14][15] coffee residues, [16,17] corncob, [18] fruit residue, [19] oilseed shells, [20] microalgae, [21,22] seeds [23,24] and pine wood, [25] among others, have been evaluated as sources for the pyrolysis process.…”

High production of furfural by flash pyrolysis of C6 sugars and lignocellulose by Pd-PdO/ZnSO4 catalyst

“…The heterogeneous catalyst developed here is also expected to be bifunctional, selectively catalyzing both dehydration and Grob fragmentation from the C6 sugar molecules. The ZnSO 4 support aims to dehydrate C6 molecules, as suggested by studies on C5 sugars, in which sulfates have proven to be the most effective [26][27][28][29][30][31][32] , and the cation Zn 2+ (in the form of ZnCl 2 ) 30,33-37 has a higher dehydration activity than its counterparts, including ferric iron (Fe 3+ ) 30,[38][39][40][41][42][43] and copper (Cu 2+ ) 28,38,41,44 . On the other hand, the Pd dopant is expected to selectively cleave the C-C bond from the side group formaldehyde, as has been suggested by the production of furan from furfural using a 2% Pd/carbon catalyst 45 and in petroleum cracking 46 .…”