Reusability of Ni₂Fe₃ Metal Catalyst for Upgrading Pyrolyzed Bio-Oil from Cellulose

Abstract

Recyclable catalysts are desperately needed for upgrading pyrolyzed bio-oil which is produced from biomass conversion in order to reduce cost and protect the environment. However, most catalysts used for producing bio-oil from the pyrolysis of biomass cannot be recycled, leading to costly catalyst regeneration or waste if disposed of. In this study, Ni2Fe3 has been chosen as the model catalyst to test the recyclable property of the metal cluster catalyst system. Cellulose is used as the biomass model reactant. The results from pyrolysis experiments and GC-MS show that the catalytic property of Ni2Fe3 remains constant even after repeated experiments. From the analysis of bio-oil by GC-MS, the catalyst even shows slightly better performance with repeated use due to the pyrolytic interaction with cellulose during the experiment.

Recyclabl Metal (Ni, Fe) Cluster Designed Catalyst for Cellulose Pyrolysis to Upgrade Bio-Oil

“…The NiFe cluster designed catalysts prepared by the sol-gel method improved the quality of bio-oil and the used catalystid not change after repeated experimental use by XRD, yield and GC-MS results [30] indicating a new potential type of recyclable stand-alone catalyst that can be used for pyrolysis.…”

“…The possible reason why NiFe 3 , NiFe 4 (Figure S3) showed different XRD patterns is that the particles may contain two different compositions of clustered materials, e.g., Fe and NiFe, or potentially other phases of NiFe clusters. The XRD results comparing the used catalyst in the experiment and unused catalyst showed the catalyst XRD pattern was unchanged by the pyrolysis experiments (Figure S3) and the catalyst can be recycled based on our previous work [30]. The NiFe catalyst was recycled five times; compared to the first run, the properties of the increasing bio-oil yield and reducing sugar content were unchanged.…”