Model compound approach to design process and select catalysts for in-situ bio-oil upgrading

In-situ catalytic upgrading of biomass pyrolysis vapor: Using a cascade system of various catalysts in a multi-zone fixed bed reactor

“…Bio-oil produced from the degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, three most important biomass building block, is a complex mixture of different oxygenated compounds with broad molecular weight range from 18 to 5000 g/mol [4]. Theses oxygenated compounds with inherent characteristics including high viscosity, high corrosivity, chemical instability and incompatibility with conventional fuels render bio-oil useless as a fuel [2,4].…”

“…Theses oxygenated compounds with inherent characteristics including high viscosity, high corrosivity, chemical instability and incompatibility with conventional fuels render bio-oil useless as a fuel [2,4]. Various oxygenated compounds in the pyrolysis liquid can be divided into three main families of components [5]: (a) small aldehydes, ketones and acids (like acetol, acetone, acetic acid and etc.…”

“…This process, which has been studied extensively in recent years [2,4,6], has the advantage of inhibiting some of the gum formation and polymerization reactions that generally occur in bio-oil and therefore, greatly reduce its instability [1]. http During biomass pyrolysis and catalytic upgrading, the pyrolysis vapors need to pass through certain stabilizing catalytic processes.…”

“…As the outcome of the authors' survey [4] on model compounds to select catalysts and process for in-situ biomass pyrolysis vapor upgrading, Fig. 1 at a glance shows simply the various catalysts' classes suggested for conversion of small oxygenates, lignin derived phenolics and sugar-derived components through condensation, deoxygenation and alkylation reactions.…”

“…In this study, for the first time, based on the results of the model compound approach researches [4], catalysts and process for palm kernel shell (PKS) fast pyrolysis vapor upgrading were selected to produce bio-oil with lower content of the oxygenated compounds. The model compound approach was employed to select the reaction conditions and catalysts that are active and selective for several classes of pyrolysis vapor upgrading reactions.…”