Catalytic Up-gradation of Bio-oil by Pyrolysis of Biomass

Abstract

The depleting oil reserves impose a threat to ever-increasing energy requirements all over the world. This necessitates the research on alternative sources of energy. Naturally, biomass is converted to oil over a period of thousands of years. But to meet the demands, pyrolysis of biomass to produce bio-oil can be a promising method for generation of alternative energy sources. Because of high oxygen content is present in the bio-oil, it has low stability. It also has low heating value. To remove the oxygen, up-gradation of the bio-oil becomes necessary. The up-gradation of bio-oil helps in improving its chemical and physical properties and makes it resemble more to the crude oil. There are two widely known methods of bio-oil up-gradation: hydro-deoxygenation (HDO) and zeolite cracking. The hydro-deoxygenation is done by pyrolyzing biomass or bio-oil in presence of catalyst, which removes oxygen in the form of water. In this report study of Catalytic Pyrolysis on biomass viz. castor seed by using CaO, MgO, Fe2O3, ZnO, and TiO2 as catalyst. Different catalytic ratios such as 1:2, 1:6, 1:8, 1:10 & 1:14 have been employed at pyrolysis temperature of 550°C, with heating rate 20°C/min for approximately 60 min. The bio-oil yield, bio-char yield, residence time for different catalysts with different ratios have been recorded. The maximum yield has obtained by using Fe2O3 in the ratio 1:10 with lowest char formation. Different physical & chemical tests have done for bio-oil & bio-char. According to this comparably good yield with upgraded qualities is obtained by using Fe2O3 as catalyst in ratio 1:10. After Fe2O3, it has noticed good yield is obtained from CaO, TiO2.