High-grade bio-oil produced from coconut shell: A comparative study of microwave reactor and core-shell catalyst

Xiaocui Wei, Xiangfei Xue, Liu Wu, Haozhe Yu, Jie Liang and Yifei Sun

Energy, 2020, vol. 212, issue C

Abstract: The quality of bio-oil can be improved by conducting biomass pyrolysis either over a core-shell hierarchical zeolite catalyst or in a microwave reactor. However, there is a lack of comparative studies on the individual effects of each factor (e.g., catalysts, reactors) on bio-oil production. In this regard, the catalytic pyrolysis of coconut shell in a fixed-bed reactor and in a microwave reactor using the conventional ZSM-5 and core-shell hierarchical ZSM-5@SBA-15 catalysts was evaluated. With an emphasize on the production of hydrocarbons and phenols, the comparative effect of the core-shell catalyst and microwave reactor was demonstrated. The core-shell catalyst had the dual effect of regulating the bio-oil yield and composition. Compared to conventional ZSM-5 (25) with a SiO2/Al2O3 ratio of 25, the core-shell ZSM-5 (25)@SBA-15 not only increased the bio-oil yield by at least 40%, but also approximately doubled the production of hydrocarbons, irrespective of the reactor type. In contrast, the microwave reactor played a greater role in regulating the bio-oil composition. Irrespective of the catalyst used, the fixed-bed reactor tended to generate phenolic-rich bio-oil, while the microwave reactor sharply reduced the phenol selectivity by at least doubling that for aromatics.

Keywords: Bio-oil; Microwave-assisted pyrolysis; Catalytic pyrolysis; Zeolites; Coconut shell (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:212:y:2020:i:c:s0360544220318004

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.118692

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