Biomass catalytic pyrolysis to produce olefins and aromatics with a physically mixed catalyst

Zeolite catalysts with micropores present good catalytic characteristics in biomass catalytic pyrolysis process. However, large-molecule oxygenates produced from pyrolysis cannot enter their pores and would form coke on their surfaces, which decreases hydrocarbon yield and deactivates catalyst rapidly. This paper proposed adding some mesoporous and macroporous catalysts (Gamma-Al2O3, CaO and MCM-41) in the microporous catalyst (LOSA-1) for biomass catalytic pyrolysis. The added catalysts were used to crack the large-molecule oxygenates into small-molecule oxygenates, while LOSA-1 was used to convert these small-molecule oxygenates into olefins and aromatics. The results show that all the additives in LOSA-1 enhanced hydrocarbon yield obviously. The maximum aromatic + olefin yield of 25.3% obtained with 10% Gamma-Al2O3/90% LOSA-1, which was boosted by 39.8% compared to that obtained with pure LOSA-1. Besides, all the additives in LOSA-1 improved the selectivities of low-carbon components in olefins and aromatics significantly. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.