Kinetic study of the catalytic pyrolysis of elephant grass using Ti-MCM-41

Abstract

This work aimed to study the kinetics of thermal and catalytic pyrolysis using Ti-MCM-41 as catalyst in order to assess the catalytic pyrolysis efficiency compared to thermal pyrolysis of elephant grass. Ti-MCM-41 molecular sieve was synthesized by hydrothermal method from hydrogel with the following molar composition:1.00 CTMABr: 4.00 SiO 2 :X TiO 2 : 1 + X Na 2 O: 200.00 H 2 O, whichstructure template used was cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMABr). The materials synthesized were characterized by X-ray diffraction, IR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis and specific area by the BET method, for subsequent application in the biomass pyrolysis process. The kinetic models proposed by Vyazovkin and Flynn-Wall were used to determine the apparent activation energy involved in the thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of elephant grass and the results showed that the catalyst used was effective in reducing the apparent activation energy involved in the thermal decomposition of elephant grass.

Ex situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis using mesoporous Ti-MCM-41

“…Ti-MCM-41 samples were obtained by hydrothermal synthesis (Fontes et al 2014) and characterized by XRD using a Shimadzu XRD-6000 instrument operating at 30 kV, 30 mA, and λ = 0.15406 nm. The diffraction patterns were obtained in the angular range 1 ≤ 2θ ≤ 10°using 0.02 steps.…”

“…Studies on catalytic pyrolysis using molecular sieves modified by transition metals or metal oxides, such as Ti-MCM-41, are limited. Nevertheless, these catalysts are promising materials for the pyrolysis of biomass and the method has gained increasing interest as an important industrial process (Fontes et al 2014). Therefore, the aim of this study is to evaluate the catalytic performance of Ti-MCM-41 in the pyrolysis of elephant grass using Ti-MCM-41 using Si/Ti ratios of 25 and 50.…”