Production of light aromatics from biomass components co-pyrolyzed with polyethylene via non-thermal plasma synergistic upgrading

Improving the Quality of Bio-oil Using the Interaction of Plastics and Biomass through Copyrolysis Coupled with Nonthermal Plasma Processing

“…Moreover, some hydrocarbons, including aromatic and aliphatic compounds, were produced with the introduction of the polystyrene to the biomass. These results are in accordance with findings reported by Fan et al 30 They reported that introducing polyethylene to biomass with an equal mass ratio decreased the concentration of oxygenated compounds in the product oil from ∼65 to 7% and increased the content of aromatic compounds. This process aided deoxygenation by transferring hydrogen radicals from the polyethylene-derived hydrocarbons to biomass-derived oxygenates.…”

“…This deoxygenation process was likely to produce highly reactive oxygen radicals when exposed to nonthermal plasma conditions. These oxygen radicals, in turn, facilitated the breaking down and decomposition of long-chain olefins or olefinic radicals . Liu et al used a lignin-derived monomer and nonthermal plasma to investigate the upgrading of bio-oil and presented a mechanism for product selection via the correlation between product distribution and mean electron energy.…”

“…When the ratio of polystyrene and biomass was 1:1, around 75% liquid and 15 wt % gas were produced. Fan et al 30 explored the catalytic copyrolysis of cellulose and polyethylene using vacuum pyrolysis with a nonthermal plasma reactor system. They concluded that increasing the amount of plastic provided more hydrogen and carbon and also raised liquid yield and diminished gas yield.…”

“…These oxygen radicals, in turn, facilitated the breaking down and decomposition of long-chain olefins or olefinic radicals. 30 Liu et al 56 used a lignin-derived monomer and nonthermal plasma to investigate the upgrading of bio-oil and presented a mechanism for product selection via the correlation between product distribution and mean electron energy. They concluded that the reaction was either directed toward aromatic ring hydrogenation or hydrodeoxygenation, depending on the gas temperature.…”

“…Whereas the interaction of plastics and biomass has been extensively studied with a view to upgrading the product bio-oil, , there are not many studies involving the additional enhancing effect of nonthermal plasma. There is some work on the addition of nonthermal plasma with copyrolysis of plastics and biomass, , but it is almost always in the presence of a catalyst, which further complicates the process. Also, there are few reports on the copyrolysis of biomass with polystyrene coupled with nonthermal plasma processing to improve the characteristics of the product oil.…”