Improved catalyst formulations for the conversion of glycerol to bio-based aromatics

Catalytic conversion of glycerol and co-feeds (fatty acids, alcohols, and alkanes) to bio-based aromatics: remarkable and unprecedented synergetic effects on catalyst performance

“…5 . Irreversible catalyst deactivation is reflected by a decrease in the total BTX productivity after 2 reaction-regeneration cycles for glycerol 27 and after 3 reaction-regeneration cycles for oleic acid conversion 36 ( Fig. 5 ).…”

“…Previous studies have shown that fatty acids and vegetable oils are good feeds for bio-BTX production, examples are the use of oleic acid 36 and glycerol blended with canola oil. 37 In total, 13 different glycerol – co-feeds at different blending ratios were tested in this study using a technical H-ZSM-5/Al 2 O 3 catalyst 27,36 in a fixed bed reactor at times on stream (TOS) between 8.5–12 h. We particularly aimed to determine synergetic effects between glycerol and the co-feed on catalyst performance including peak BTX yields, catalyst productivity, and regenerability. Besides, using catalytic pyrolysis integrated with GC-Orbitrap MS, we also show the distribution of the C and H of the co-feeds in the products.…”

Catalytic Conversion of Glycerol to Bio-Based Aromatics

“…The mesopores of the Al 2 O 3 provided a higher capacity to store coke deposits in amorphous form. Also, the binder promoted a high total BTX yield compared to H-ZSM-5 [31]. Another study investigated the incorporation of tin (Sn) species in ZSM-5 catalysts.…”

“…Besides, the coke formation on the H-ZSM-5/Al 2 O 3 was amorphous, whereas that of H-ZSM-5 was graphitic [50,55]. This implies that the decomposition temperature would vary widely and the graphitic coke obviously would result in irreversible deactivation [31].…”

“…Another problem encountered when ZSM-5 or H-ZSM-5 is used is rapid deactivation due to sintering, coking from reaction products, and attrition. This can be minimized by using a binder such as Al 2 O 3 [ 31 ]. The binder stops irreversible deactivation and prolongs the catalyst life.…”