Scaling-Up of Bio-Oil Upgrading during Biomass Pyrolysis over ZrO2 /ZSM-5-Attapulgite

Héctor Hernando, Ana M Hernández-Giménez, Santiago Gutiérrez-Rubio, Tomaz Fakin, Andrej Horvat, Rosa M Danisi, Patricia Pizarro, Javier Fermoso, Eleni Heracleous, Pieter C A Bruijnincx, Angelos A Lappas, Bert M Weckhuysen, David P Serrano*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademic

Abstract

Ex situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis was investigated at both laboratory and bench scale by using a zeolite ZSM-5-based catalyst for selectively upgrading the bio-oil vapors. The catalyst consisted of nanocrystalline ZSM-5, modified by incorporation of ZrO2 and agglomerated with attapulgite (ZrO2 /n-ZSM-5-ATP). Characterization of this material by means of different techniques, including CO2 and NH3 temperature-programmed desorption (TPD), NMR spectroscopy, UV/Vis microspectroscopy, and fluorescence microscopy, showed that it possessed the right combination of accessibility and acid-base properties for promoting the conversion of the bulky molecules formed by lignocellulose pyrolysis and their subsequent deoxygenation to upgraded liquid organic fractions (bio-oil). The results obtained at the laboratory scale by varying the catalyst-to-biomass ratio (C/B) indicated that the ZrO2 /n-ZSM-5-ATP catalyst was more efficient for bio-oil deoxygenation than the parent zeolite n-ZSM-5, producing upgraded bio-oils with better combinations of mass and energy yields with respect to the oxygen content. The excellent performance of the ZrO2 /n-ZSM-5-ATP system was confirmed by working with a continuous bench-scale plant. The scale-up of the process, even with different raw biomasses as the feedstock, reaction conditions, and operation modes, was in line with the laboratory-scale results, leading to deoxygenation degrees of approximately 60 % with energy yields of approximately 70 % with respect to those of the thermal bio-oil.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2428-2438
Number of pages11
JournalChemSusChem
Volume12
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 7 Jun 2019

Keywords

  • biomass
  • bio-oil
  • catalytic
  • pyrolysis
  • ZSM-5

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