Converting pine sawdust to advanced biofuel over HZSM-5 using a two-stage catalytic pyrolysis reactor

In this study, the pine sawdust thermal conversions over HZSM-5 catalyst were carried out under different reaction temperatures in a two-stage catalytic pyrolysis reactor. Higher temperatures in the catalytic reactor tended to decrease the yield of bio-oil and change the component of bio-oil. The results from the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis showed that the pyrolysis reaction at 500 degrees C and catalytic reaction at 500 degrees C treatment obtained the highest hydrocarbon content (58.63%) and the highest C-8-C-12 content (48.03%) in the oil phase of the bio-oil. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selectedarea-electron-diffraction (SEAD) characterization showed that the distortion of the ZSM-5 zeolite lattice occurred before and after use. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) characterization indicated that the formation of coke increased as the catalytic temperature rose. The physical characterization of bio-oils, such as water content, density, viscosity, pH, and higher heating value (HHV) further demonstrated that HZSM-5 catalyst was beneficial in achieving low viscosity and higher HHV bio-oils. All the results suggest that the two-stage catalytic pyrolysis reactor with HZSM-5 catalyst has a great potential for achieving advanced biofuel. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.