Catalytic Co-Pyrolysis of Lignin and Waste Rubber to Obtain Hydrocarbons and Phenols

Co-pyrolysis of lignin and waste rubber (WR) with the zeolite catalyst of NaY was conducted to produce hydrocarbons and phenols using thermo-gravimetric analyzer (TG) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). Results from TG showed that lignin, WR and their blends behaved similarly in pyrolysis decomposition and there were three dominant degradation temperature regions. For the Py-GC/MS analysis, the effects of pyrolysis temperature and hydrogen to carbon effective ratio (H/C-eff ratio) on the relative contents of hydrocarbons and phenols were examined. The results showed that pyrolysis temperature of 650 degrees C was optimal for formation of target products and other organic pyrolysis products. With increasing H/C-eff ratio, the relative content of hydrocarbons and phenols achieved the optimum value at 1.6 and 0.7, respectively, while the yield of total organic pyrolysis products reached the maximum value at 1.3. It concluded that the quality of pyrolysis products from lignin and WR could be significantly improved by the process of catalytic co-pyrolysis.