Study on aromatics production via the catalytic pyrolysis vapor upgrading of biomass using metal-loaded modified H-ZSM-5

- Effects of transition metals on mass balance of pyrolysis products were investigated.
- Higher selectivity of BTXE is obtained from catalytic pyrolysis upgrading of biomass using M-ZSM-5 catalyst.
- High amounts of toluene and benzene isomers were produced with Zn-ZSM-5.
- Yield of pyrolytic oil varied with metal type and its amount of loading.

The main objective of this work was to study aromatics production via the catalytic pyrolysis upgrading of biomass using metal-loaded modified H-ZSM-5. M-ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared through the impregnation method with Zn, Ga, Ni, Co, Mg and Cu. The prepared M-ZSM-5 catalysts were evaluated by x-ray diffraction, thermal desorption spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The properties, composition and product distribution of bio-oil were also analysed. Results showed that the M-ZSM-5 catalysts yielded a higher amount of non-condensable gas at the expense of the liquid yields. The Ga-ZSM-5 catalysts produced the highest yields of bio-oil (25.76 wt%), but the lowest amount of coke (22.08 wt%) compared with the unmodified ZSM-5 catalyst (33.38 wt%). The content of the single-ring aromatics prepared by using the Zn-ZSM-5 catalysts was the highest at 90.28 wt%, whereas that of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon prepared by the Ni-ZSM-5 catalysts was the highest at 31.36 wt%. Moreover, the selectivity of the single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons, such as C7 and C8, were significantly affected by the use of the M-ZSM-5 catalysts. The Zn-ZSM-5 catalysts were the most selective for toluene and xylenes with contents of 36.52 wt% and 35.32 wt%, respectively, whereas the Co-based catalysts were the most selective for indene. The Ni-based catalysts can obviously improve the selectivities of benzene production and C10+ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Zn-ZSM-5 was the most effective catalyst that can be used in the production of aromatic hydrocarbons.

Metal-Modified ZSM-5 can effectively improve the aromatic hydrocarbon selectivity over catalytic pyrolysis upgrading.250