Ex Situ Catalytic Pyrolysis of Invasive Pennisetum purpureum Grass with Activated Carbon for Upgrading Bio-Oil

Md Sumon Reza (), Shammya Afroze, Kairat Kuterbekov, Asset Kabyshev, Kenzhebatyr Zh. Bekmyrza, Juntakan Taweekun, Fairuzeta Ja’afar, Muhammad Saifullah Abu Bakar, Abul K. Azad, Hridoy Roy and Md. Shahinoor Islam ()
Additional contact information
Md Sumon Reza: Faculty of Natural Sciences, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010008, Kazakhstan
Shammya Afroze: Faculty of Physics and Technical Sciences, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010008, Kazakhstan
Kairat Kuterbekov: Faculty of Physics and Technical Sciences, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010008, Kazakhstan
Asset Kabyshev: Faculty of Physics and Technical Sciences, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010008, Kazakhstan
Kenzhebatyr Zh. Bekmyrza: Faculty of Physics and Technical Sciences, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, Astana 010008, Kazakhstan
Juntakan Taweekun: Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Hatyai 90112, Thailand
Fairuzeta Ja’afar: Chemical Sciences Programme, Faculty of Science, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei
Muhammad Saifullah Abu Bakar: Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei
Abul K. Azad: Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong BE1410, Brunei
Hridoy Roy: Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh
Md. Shahinoor Islam: Department of Chemical Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-20

Abstract: Energy demands keep increasing in this modern world as the world population increases, which leads to a reduction in fossil fuels. To resolve these challenges, Pennisetum purpureum, an invasive grass in Brunei Darussalam, was examined as the feedstock for renewable energy through a catalytic pyrolysis process. The activated carbon was applied as the catalyst for a simple and economical solution. The catalytic pyrolysis was executed at 500 °C (the temperature for the highest biofuel yield) for both reactors to produce the highest amount of upgraded biofuels. The biochar produced from the non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis processes showed a consistent yield due to stable operating conditions, from which the activated carbon was generated and used as the catalyst in this work. A significant amount of improvement was found in the production of biofuels, especially bio-oil. It was found that for catalysts, the number of phenolic, alcohol, furans, and ketones was increased by reducing the amount of acidic, aldehyde, miscellaneous oxygenated, and nitrogenous composites in bio-oils. The highest amount of phenolic compounds was produced due to a number of functional groups (-C=O and -OH) in activated carbon. The regenerated activated carbons also showed promising outcomes as catalysts for upgrading the bio-oils. The overall performance of synthesized and regenerated activated carbon as a catalyst in catalytic pyrolysis was highly promising for improving the quality and stability of bio-oil.

Keywords: invasive biomass; Pennisetum purpureum; catalytic pyrolysis; activated carbon; bio-oil; bioenergy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7628/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/9/7628/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:9:p:7628-:d:1140564

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().