Probing the effect of Cu-SrO loading on catalyst supports (ZSM-5, Y-zeolite, activated carbon, Al2O3, and ZrO2) for aromatics production during catalytic co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste cooking oil

Tewodros Kassa Dada; Arun Vuppaladadiyam; Alex Xiaofei Duan; Ravinder Kumar; Elsa Antunes

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127515

Probing the effect of Cu-SrO loading on catalyst supports (ZSM-5, Y-zeolite, activated carbon, Al₂O₃, and ZrO2) for aromatics production during catalytic co-pyrolysis of biomass and waste cooking oil

Bioresour Technol. 2022 Sep:360:127515. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127515. Epub 2022 Jun 25.

Authors

Tewodros Kassa Dada¹, Arun Vuppaladadiyam¹, Alex Xiaofei Duan², Ravinder Kumar¹, Elsa Antunes³

Affiliations

¹ College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia.
² Melbourne Trace Analysis for Chemical, Earth and Environmental Sciences (TrACEES) Platform and School of Chemistry, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC 3010, Australia.
³ College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Electronic address: elsa.antunes1@jcu.edu.au.

PMID: 35764281
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2022.127515

Abstract

In this work, Cu-SrO bimetallic catalyst was synthesised and examined for catalytic co-pyrolysis of ironbark (IB) and waste cooking oil (WCO) using Py-GC/MS. The effect of catalyst supports (ZSM-5, Y-zeolite, activated carbon, Al₂O₃, and ZrO₂) on aromatic hydrocarbons yield was studied. The effect of catalyst support on the selectivity of gasoline (C8-C14), diesel (C15-C17), and heavy oil (>C20) components of bio-oil were studied. Non-catalytic co-pyrolysis of IB and WCO produced a heavy oil component of 58.7% (>C20). SrO initiated a ketonization reaction that converted carboxylic acids into new C-C bonds. The addition of Cu effectively promoted secondary cracking and aromatization reactions enhancing the hydrocarbon yield. Cu-SrO/ZSM-5 and Cu-SrO/Y-zeolite produced low acid content of 4.43% and 12.5%, respectively. Overall, the bimetallic catalyst Cu-SrO/ZSM-5 significantly increased the amount of C8-C14 compounds to 87.28% and reduced compounds over C20 to 1.19%.

Keywords: Aromatics; Bi-functional catalyst; Biomass; Catalytic co-pyrolysis; Hydrocarbons; Waste cooking oil.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Catalysis
Charcoal
Cooking
Hot Temperature
Pyrolysis*
Zeolites* / chemistry
Zirconium

Substances

Zeolites
Charcoal
Zirconium