Investigation of a Ni-Modified MCM-41 Catalyst for the Reduction of Oxygenates and Carbon Deposits during the Co-Pyrolysis of Cellulose and Polypropylene

Yu Shi; Chang Liu; Jiankun Zhuo; Qiang Yao

doi:10.1021/acsomega.0c02205

Investigation of a Ni-Modified MCM-41 Catalyst for the Reduction of Oxygenates and Carbon Deposits during the Co-Pyrolysis of Cellulose and Polypropylene

ACS Omega. 2020 Aug 5;5(32):20299-20310. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.0c02205. eCollection 2020 Aug 18.

Authors

Yu Shi¹, Chang Liu¹, Jiankun Zhuo^{1

2}, Qiang Yao^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory for Thermal Science and Power Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
² Beijing Engineering Research Center for Ecological Restoration and Carbon Fixation of Saline-Alkaline and Desert Land, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
³ School of Electric Engineering, Xinjiang University, Urumqi 830047, China.

Abstract

Catalytic fast co-pyrolysis of biomass and plastic is an effective method to achieve high-quality bio-oil production. In this work, (Ni)-MCM-41 catalysts with different Ni loadings were prepared and characterized in detail by using a variety of advanced analytical techniques, and the effects on the catalytic performance were analyzed by micropyrolysis with gas chromatography mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) and thermogravimetry-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG-FTIR) methods. The results showed that an appropriate amount of Ni addition can effectively modulate the physicochemical properties of MCM-41. For a Ni loading of 25.1 wt % (Cat-C), the catalyst showed an optimal catalytic performance, a decrease in the proportion of oxygenated compounds in the product from 35.6 (MCM-41) to 13.4%, and an increase in the relative total amount of olefins plus aromatics from 62.2 (MCM-41) to 84.6%. The excellent catalytic performance of Cat-C can be ascribed to a balancing of its proper physical structural properties, appropriate acidity, strong metal-carrier interaction, high metal dispersion, and excellent compatibility balance between active and acidic sites.