Catalytic Pyrolysis of Torrefied Biomass Using Different Acidic Zeolites

The liquid fuel derived from pyrolysis of biomass exhibits certain characteristics that limit its usage as an efficient transportation fuel. Several upgrading methods to produce aromatics and to selectively eliminate oxygenates derived from the pyrolysis process are available, among which catalytic pyrolysis is gaining a lot of research attraction lately. Fast pyrolysis of biomass using zeolite catalyst has shown to be effective in improving the aromatic production.  This study focuses on the aromatic production through catalytic pyrolysis of biomass and its two model compounds--cellulose and lignin. Pre-treatment (torrefaction) was performed to observe its effect on pyrolysis products. The influence of SiO₂/Al₂O₃ ratio of zeolite catalyst on selectively eliminating oxygenates during the pyrolysis of raw and torrefied model compounds were investigated.