Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass Impregnated with Potassium Phosphate in a Hydrogen Atmosphere for the Production of Phenol and Activated Carbon

Abstract

A new technique was proposed to co-produce phenol and activated carbon (AC) from catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass impregnated with K3PO4 in a hydrogen atmosphere, followed by activation of the pyrolytic solid residues. Lab-scale catalytic fast pyrolysis experiments were performed to quantitatively determine the pyrolytic product distribution, as well as to investigate the effects of several factors on the phenol production, including pyrolysis atmosphere, catalyst type, biomass type, catalytic pyrolysis temperature, and catalyst impregnation content. In addition, the pyrolytic solid residues were activated to prepare ACs with high specific surface areas. The results indicated that phenol could be obtained due to the synergistic effects of K3PO4 and hydrogen atmosphere, with the yield and selectivity reaching 5.3 wt% and 17.8% from catalytic fast pyrolysis of poplar wood with 8 wt% K3PO4 at 550°C in a hydrogen atmosphere. This technique was adaptable to different woody materials for phenol production. Moreover, gas product generated from the pyrolysis process was feasible to be recycled to provide the hydrogen atmosphere, instead of extra hydrogen supply. In addition, the pyrolytic solid residue was suitable for AC preparation, using CO2 activation method, the specific surface area was as high as 1,605 m2/g.

Pyrolysis of Biomass Impregnated With Ammonium Dihydrogen Phosphate for Polygeneration of Phenol and Supercapacitor Electrode Material

“…Besides, during the pyrolysis, NH 4 H 2 PO 4 could act as a donor of hydrogen for biomass (Zeng and Bernstein, 2019). As confirmed in previous literatures (Lu et al, 2018c;Zhang et al, 2019), the hydrogen source would exhibit positive effects on the formation of phenol by removing the substitutes on the aromatic rings. Furthermore, the co-pyrolysis of NH 4 H 2 PO 4 and poplar could generate abundant P-containing functional groups, like -O-P-C-, -C-P=O, and so on (Zhang et al, 2018b), which could improve the formation of phenol from non-lignin constituents, viz.…”

“…Currently, only limited researches have been performed on the selective preparation of phenol. Our group put forward a creative method to obtain phenol from catalytic decomposition of biomass by impregnation of K 3 PO 4 or blended with magnetic K 3 PO 4 /Fe 3 O 4 solid catalyst under hydrogen atmosphere (Lu et al, 2018c;Zhang et al, 2019). The phenol yields reached 5.3 and 4.3 wt%, respectively, both with excellent selectivity of ∼18%.…”

On-Line Composition Analysis of Complex Hydrocarbon Streams by Time-Resolved Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and Ion–Molecule Reaction Mass Spectrometry

“…16 In the case of gas-phase reactions, conversion products are often collected in gas bags prior to analysis or condensed in liquid traps, which may complicate the analysis of original species. 11,17,18 In response, on-line GC−MS has been developed. It was recently used to study the conversion of furan over zeolites, and several HC products were identified and quantified.…”

“…Furthermore, light gases such as water and C 1 –C 3 species might not be routinely analyzed . In the case of gas-phase reactions, conversion products are often collected in gas bags prior to analysis or condensed in liquid traps, which may complicate the analysis of original species. ,, In response, on-line GC–MS has been developed. It was recently used to study the conversion of furan over zeolites, and several HC products were identified and quantified. ,, Despite the on-line approach, the demonstrated time resolution was at best limited to several minutes.…”

Catalytic Effects on the Nonisothermal Oxidation of Solid Fuels by Oxygen: An Experimental Study

“…Experimental studies were conducted to compare the emission of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and methane as well as the energy released from combustion and the combustion efficiency. All the experiments were carried out at different heating rates (20,25,30, and 40 o C/min) and airflow rates (30, 50, 80 and 100 ml/min), with temperatures ranging from 50-800 o C. The difference in reactivities was quantified at different conversion levels of the solid fuels in terms of activation energies, and preexponential factors. This study expands on our previous work [31] in which catalyst impregnation was done on charcoal but the experiments were done isothermally in a tube furnace, yet real-life combustion occurs non-isothermally.…”