Aromatics and phenols from catalytic pyrolysis of Douglas fir pellets in microwave with ZSM-5 as a catalyst

Lu Wang, Hanwu Lei, Shoujie Ren, Quan Bu, Jing Liang, Yi Wei, Yupeng Liu, Guo Shuh J. Lee, Shulin Chen, Juming Tang, Qin Zhang, Roger Ruan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

75 Scopus citations

Abstract

Microwave assisted catalytic pyrolysis was investigated to convert Douglas fir pellets to bio-oils by a ZSM-5 zeolite catalyst. A central composite experimental design (CCD) was used to optimize the catalytic pyrolysis process. The effects of reaction time, temperature and catalyst to biomass ratio on the bio-oil, syngas, and biochar yields were determined. GC/MS analysis results showed that the bio-oil contained a series of important and useful chemical compounds. Phenols, guaiacols, and aromatic hydrocarbons were the most abundant compounds which were about 50-82% in bio-oil depending on the pyrolysis conditions. Comparison between the bio-oils from microwave pyrolysis with and without catalyst showed that the catalyst increased the content of aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols. A reaction pathway was proposed for microwave assisted catalyst pyrolysis of Douglas fir pellets.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)194-200
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis
Volume98
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2012

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was supported in partial by the Office of Research at Washington State University .

Keywords

  • Aromatics
  • Catalytic pyrolysis
  • Douglas fir pellet
  • GC/MS
  • Microwave
  • Phenols
  • ZSM-5

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