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Special Issue "Catalytic Pyrolysis"

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A special issue of Catalysts (ISSN 2073-4344). This special issue belongs to the section "Catalytic Materials".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2018) | Viewed by 29461

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Dr. Gartzen Lopez

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Guest Editor

Department of Chemical Engineering, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Campus Bizkaia, Bilbao, Spain
Interests: pyrolysis; gasification; spouted bed; biomass; waste management
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Greater environmental awareness is driving society towards the development of sustainable models and the advancement of green chemistry. Thus, recent decades have seen a growing interest in biomass and waste valorisation processes. Among these routes, thermochemical ones are those with best perspectives for full-scale deployment. Indeed, pyrolysis is an efficient and eco-friendly process for the production of fuels, chemicals and hydrogen from different types of biomasses and wastes (e.g., plastics and waste tyres). However, the commercial success of pyrolysis is restricted by the products’ poor quality and the process’s limited selectivity. Within this scenario, catalytic pyrolysis is a feasible alternative to overcome the limitations of thermal pyrolysis. The incorporation of acid catalysts into pyrolysis processes has proven to be a key factor for the production of fuels and chemicals, such as light olefins and aromatics. Furthermore, the use of reforming catalysts allows developing alternative routes for hydrogen production. In spite of the interest in catalytic pyrolysis, there are challenges that must be addressed prior to its large-scale implementation, such as improving catalyst design, studies with real wastes, in-depth deactivation and regeneration studies, and the optimization of product distribution to enhance the production of high value-added products.

Dr. Gartzen Lopez
Guest Editor

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Keywords

pyrolysis
catalyst
biomass
waste plastics
waste tyres
bio-oil
light olefins
zeolites
hydrogen
coke

Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

Jump to: Research, Review

3 pages, 185 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Editorial Catalysts: Special Issue on Catalytic Pyrolysis

Gartzen Lopez

Catalysts 2020, 10(5), 487; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal10050487 - 30 Apr 2020

Viewed by 1194

Abstract

The increase of environmental concern is currently promoting the development of sustainable and green chemistry [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

Research

Jump to: Editorial, Review

11 pages, 2898 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Maximizing Anhydrosugar Production from Fast Pyrolysis of Eucalyptus Using Sulfuric Acid as an Ash Catalyst Inhibitor

and

Catalysts 2018, 8(12), 609; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8120609 - 03 Dec 2018

Cited by 8 | Viewed by 2602

Abstract

Anhydrosugars, such as levoglucosan (LG), are high value-added chemicals which are mainly derived from fast pyrolysis of pure cellulose. However, fast pyrolysis of raw lignocellulosic biomass usually produces a very low amount of levoglucosan, since alkali and alkaline earth metals (AAEM) present in the ash can serve as the catalysts to inhibit the formation of levoglucosan through accelerating the pyranose ring-opening reactions. In this study, eucalyptus was impregnated with H₂SO₄ solutions with varying concentrations (0.25–1.25%). The characteristics of ash derived from raw and H₂SO₄-impregnated eucalyptus were characterized by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The pyrolysis behaviors of raw and H₂SO₄-impregnated eucalyptus were performed on the thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). TG analysis demonstrated that the H₂SO₄-impregnated eucalyptus produced less char than raw eucalyptus. Py-GC/MS analysis showed that even small amounts of H₂SO₄ can obviously improve the production of anhydrosugars and phenols and suppressed the formation of carboxylic acids, aldehydes, and ketones from fast pyrolysis of eucalyptus. The rank order of levoglucosan yield from raw and impregnated eucalyptus was raw < 1.25% H₂SO₄ < 1% H₂SO₄ < 0.75% H₂SO₄ < 0.25% H₂SO₄ < 0.5% H₂SO₄. The maximum yield of levoglucosan (21.3%) was obtained by fast pyrolysis of eucalyptus impregnated with 0.5% H₂SO₄, which was close to its theoretical yield based on the cellulose content. The results could be ascribed to that H₂SO₄ can react with AAEM (e.g., Na, K, Ca, and Mg) and lignin to form lignosulfonate, thus acting as an inhibitor to suppress the catalytic effects of AAEM during fast pyrolysis of eucalyptus. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

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11 pages, 1940 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Sub-Pilot-Scale Autocatalytic Pyrolysis of Wastewater Biosolids for Enhanced Energy Recovery

and

Catalysts 2018, 8(11), 524; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8110524 - 07 Nov 2018

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 4086

Abstract

Improving onsite energy generation and recovering value-added products are common goals for sustainable used water reclamation. A new process called autocatalytic pyrolysis was developed at bench scale in our previous work by using biochar produced from the biosolids pyrolysis process itself as the catalyst to enhance energy recovery from wastewater biosolids. The large-scale investigation of this process was used to increase the technical readiness level. A sub-pilot-scale catalytic pyrolytic system was constructed for this scaled-up study. The effects of configuration changes in both pyrolytic and catalytic reactors were investigated as well as the effect of vapor-catalyst contact types (i.e., downstream, in-situ) on product yield and quality. The sub-pilot-scale test with downstream catalysis resulted in higher py-gas yields and lower bio-oil yields when compared to results from a previous batch, bench-scale process. In particular, the py-gas yields increased 2.5-fold and the energy contained in the py-gas approximately quadrupled compared to the control test without autocatalysis. Biochar addition to the feed biosolids before pyrolysis (in-situ catalysis) resulted in increased py-gas production, but the increase was limited. It was expected that using a higher input pyrolyzer with a better mixing condition would further improve the py-gas yield. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

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18 pages, 1513 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Optimization of Charcoal Production Process from Woody Biomass Waste: Effect of Ni-Containing Catalysts on Pyrolysis Vapors

Jon Solar

Blanca Maria Caballero

Isabel De Marco

Alexander López-Urionabarrenechea

and

Naia Gastelu

Catalysts 2018, 8(5), 191; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8050191 - 04 May 2018

Cited by 18 | Viewed by 4666

Abstract

Woody biomass waste (Pinus radiata) coming from forestry activities has been pyrolyzed with the aim of obtaining charcoal and, at the same time, a hydrogen-rich gas fraction. The pyrolysis has been carried out in a laboratory scale continuous screw reactor, where carbonization takes place, connected to a vapor treatment reactor, at which the carbonization vapors are thermo-catalytically treated. Different peak temperatures have been studied in the carbonization process (500–900 °C), while the presence of different Ni-containing catalysts in the vapor treatment has been analyzed. Low temperature pyrolysis produces high liquid and solid yields, however, increasing the temperature progressively up to 900 °C drastically increases gas yield. The amount of nickel affects the vapors treatment phase, enhancing even further the production of interesting products such as hydrogen and reducing the generated liquids to very low yields. The gases obtained at very high temperatures (700–900 °C) in the presence of Ni-containing catalysts are rich in H₂ and CO, which makes them valuable for energy production, as hydrogen source, producer gas or reducing agent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

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13 pages, 5112 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Kraft Lignin over Hierarchical HZSM-5 and Hβ Zeolites

and

Catalysts 2018, 8(2), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8020082 - 14 Feb 2018

Cited by 40 | Viewed by 4121

Abstract

The hierarchical HZSM-5 and Hβ zeolites were prepared by alkaline post-treatment methods adopting Na₂CO₃, TMAOH/NaOH mixture, and NaOH as desilication sources, respectively. More mesopores are produced over two kinds of zeolites, while the micropores portion is well preserved. The mesopores formed in hierarchical Hβ zeolites were directly related to the basicity of the alkaline solution, indicating that Hβ zeolite is more sensitive to the alkaline post-treatment. The hierarchical HZSM-5 and Hβ zeolites are more active than the parent one for catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of Kraft lignin. Hierarchical zeolites retained the function of acid catalysis, while additionally creating larger mesopores to ensure the entry of bulkier reactant molecules. The increase of the condensable volatiles yield can be attributed to the improvement of the mass transfer performance, which correlates well with the change of mesoporous surface area. In particular, the condensable volatiles yield for the optimized hierarchical Hβ reached approximately two times that of the parent Hβ zeolites. In contrast to the parent HZSM-5, the optimized hierarchical HZSM-5 zeolite significantly reduced the selectivity of oxygenates from 27.2% to 3.3%. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

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Review

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45 pages, 1823 KiB

Open AccessReview

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Biomass and Polymer Wastes

and

Catalysts 2018, 8(12), 659; https://doi.org/10.3390/catal8120659 - 13 Dec 2018

Cited by 106 | Viewed by 12086

Abstract

Oil produced by the pyrolysis of biomass and co-pyrolysis of biomass with waste synthetic polymers has significant potential as a substitute for fossil fuels. However, the relatively poor properties found in pyrolysis oil—such as high oxygen content, low caloric value, and physicochemical instability—hampers its practical utilization as a commercial petroleum fuel replacement or additive. This review focuses on pyrolysis catalyst design, impact of using real waste feedstocks, catalyst deactivation and regeneration, and optimization of product distributions to support the production of high value-added products. Co-pyrolysis of two or more feedstock materials is shown to increase oil yield, caloric value, and aromatic hydrocarbon content. In addition, the co-pyrolysis of biomass and polymer waste can contribute to a reduction in production costs, expand waste disposal options, and reduce environmental impacts. Several promising options for catalytic pyrolysis to become industrially viable are also discussed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Catalytic Pyrolysis)

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