Reactions and Distribution of Levoglucosan during the High-Pressure Reactive Distillation of Bio-Oil

Abstract

High-pressure reactive distillation is a new bio-oil upgrading technology that can achieve high yields of the distillate due to reduced polymerization. Levoglucosan, as an anhydrous sugar, is one of the major components of bio-oil from the pyrolysis of biomass. To understand the reactive distillation of bio-oil at high pressure, the reactions and distribution of levoglucosan during the high-pressure reactive distillation of bio-oil were investigated in this study. Our results indicate that levoglucosan would mainly undergo hydrolysis during the high-pressure distillation, whereas thermal polymerization would dominate during the atmospheric pressure distillation. The reaction environment plays an important role in the levoglucosan reaction. The increase in pressure, temperature, water, and acetic acid concentration could accelerate levoglucosan conversion during bio-oil distillation, especially via the hydrolysis reaction. Most of the levoglucosan during the high-pressure reactive distillation could be converted into small molecules and distilled out due to the presence of light components retained in the liquid phase by high pressure. However, during the atmospheric pressure distillation, most of the levoglucosan would be mainly retained in the heavy residue to undergo polymerization reactions.

Modeling of Liquid–Vapor Phase Equilibria of Pyrolysis Bio-oils: A Review

“…b UNIFAC Fonseca et al 19 Fast pyrolysis (wheat straw) RK UNIFAC Fonseca and Funke 121 Fast pyrolysis (wheat straw) SRK-KD SRK-KD Gorensek et al 132 Lignocellulosic biomass pyrolysis PR PR Gupta et al 133 Fast pyrolysis multistep condensation Ideal gas UNIQUAC Gura 134 Fast pyrolysis of lignin RK UNIFAC-DMD Gustavsson and Nilsson 48 Flash pyrolysis of forest residues for boiler Ideal gas Wilson c Hammer et al 137 Fast Pyrolysis of equine waste for boiler Ideal gas NRTL Humbird et al 139 Custom FP reactor for pyrolysis (softwood, corn stover, switchgrass) PR-BM PR-BM Ille et al 36 Fast pyrolysis (wheat straw) Ideal gas UNIFAC-DMD Ille et al 36 Fast pyrolysis (wheat straw) GCA GCA Jasperson et al 143 LLE of model FPBO components -b UNIFAC-DMD Jalalinejad et al 118 Screening of solvents for extraction of lignols from bio-oil -b NIST-UNIFAC Kabir et al 123 Pyrolysis of municipal green waste PR-BM PR-BM Kougioumtzis et al 125 Production of 5-HMF from cellulose Ideal gas NRTL Krutof and Hawboldt 110 Distillation curve modeling for FPBO Ideal gas UNIQUAC Mohammed et al 127 Technoeconomic analysis of Napier grass pyrolysis and oil upgrading Ideal gas NRTL Mohammed et al 129 Pyrolysis of Napier grass bagasse Ideal gas NRTL Motta et al 130 Pyrolysis of different Brazilian biomasses Ideal gas NRTL Neves et al 131 Pyrolysis and hydrotreatment of sugar cane bagasse SRK-BM SRK-BM Onarheim et al 109 Fast pyrolysis of pine wood and forest residue Ideal gas UNIQUAC d Parku et al 211 Fast pyrolysis of Miscanthus and coffee grounds Ideal gas UNIFAC-DMD Peters et al 135 Fast pyrolysis of lignocellulosics (pine, eucalyptus, poplar, wheat straw) PR-BM PR-BM Shahbaz et al 136 Slow pyrolysis of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin PR-BM PR-BM Shemfe et al 138 Fast-pyrolysis + hydroprocessing for electrical generation (pine wood) Nothnagel EoS UNIQUAC Stephan et al 140 Ternary LLE equilibria of water, isopropyl acetate/toluene, and bio-oil surrogate -b UNIQUAC, NRTL Wagh 141 Fast pyrolysis of mallee wood Nothnagel EoS UNIQUAC d Wang et al 142 High-pressure reactive distillation of bio-oil -b NRTL Z ̌ilnik and Jazbinsěk…”

Roles of mineral matter in biomass processing to biofuels

“…These light oxygenate compounds in bio‐oils can negatively affect the catalysts during bio‐oil upgrading processes, making them less reactive due to coke formation 86 . Apart from forming more low molecular weight oxygenates, the AAEMs limit the formation of levoglucosan, one of the major components of bio‐oil 40,87 . Secondary cracking of volatiles also will take place, catalyzed by several compounds containing K, producing more gas compounds that lead to biochar cracking 41 .…”

“…86 Apart from forming more low molecular weight oxygenates, the AAEMs limit the formation of levoglucosan, one of the major components of bio-oil. 40,87 Secondary cracking of volatiles also will take place, catalyzed by several compounds containing K, producing more gas compounds that lead to biochar cracking. 41 Comparison of different product yields as the catalytic effects of varying metal nitrate salts during pyrolysis of impregnated eucalyptus has been reported.…”