Continuous catalytic pyrolysis of biomass using a fluidized bed with commercial-ready catalysts for scale-up

The use of catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass to produce high-quality bio-oils as potential substitutes for conventional fuels plays an essential role in the decarbonization of the world. In this study, continuous CFP tests of sawdust using three commercial-ready catalysts were performed. The overall objective is to screen appropriate catalysts and catalyst loading amounts for further commercialization and upgrading by evaluating the quality of the organic fraction bio-oils and clarifying the relationship between the hydrogen-to-carbon atomic effective (H/Ceff) ratio and bio-oil yield. The results displayed that, owing to a cracking effect of the catalyst, all catalytic cases had higher H/Ceff ratios and larger relative area percentages of hydrocarbons determined by NMR. Thermogravimetric analysis reveals that, compared to non-catalytic bio-oils, catalytic bio-oils showed more distillates in the diesel range. Increasing the catalyst-loading amount also showed the same effect. Overall, all bio-oil products from catalytic cases had H/Ceff ratios higher than 0.6, indicating the production of promising oil for hydrodeoxygenation. By analyzing and fitting the data from this work and comparing with the literature, it could be concluded that its yield would decrease as the bio-oil product quality increases (the H/Ceff ratios increase).