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FCC Matrix Components and Their Combination with Y Zeolite to Enhance the Deoxygenation of Bio-oils

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Abstract

The immediate catalytic conversions of pyrolytic bio-oils from pine sawdust and soybean shell over mesoporous catalysts (silica, alumina, and silica-alumina) and their combinations with Y zeolite, were studied. The effect of mesoporosity and acidity on the bio-oil deoxygenation and conversion into hydrocarbons was investigated. Pyrolysis and immediate catalytic conversion of bio-oil were performed in an integrated pyrolysis–upgrading reactor, for 7 min under a 30-ml/min flow of nitrogen at 550 °C. Important differences were observed in the conversion of the bio-oils, according to the composition of the raw biomasses. Pine sawdust bio-oil produced more coke and less hydrocarbons in the range of gasoline than soybean shell bio-oil over all the catalysts. Mesoporous catalysts showed conversion and deoxygenation between 14 and 29 percentage points higher with the more acidic solid (SiO2-Al2O3) in the case of pine sawdust bio-oil and between 2 and 10 percentage points higher with the solid having the highest specific surface area (SiO2) in the case of soybean shell bio-oil. Among the compound catalysts, the best performance for the case of pine sawdust corresponded to the catalyst with the highest mesoporosity (Y/SiO2), while for soybean shell corresponded to the most acidic catalysts (Y/Al2O3 and Y/SiO2-Al2O3). Soybean shell bio-oil showed more low molecular weight compounds (less than 130 g mol−1), which diffuse more easily in the zeolite channels, thus favoring conversion and deoxygenation mechanisms. On the contrary, for pine sawdust bio-oil, the surface area contributed by the mesopores in the matrix played a key role in pre-cracking bulky molecules.

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Funding

This work was carried out with financial support of the University of Litoral (UNL, Santa Fe, Argentina), Secretary of Science and Technology, Proj. CAID 50420150100068LI, and the National Agency for Scientific and Technological Promotion (ANPCyT), PICT 1208/2016.

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  1. Instituto de Investigaciones en Catálisis y Petroquímica “Ing. José Miguel Parera” INCAPE (UNL-CONICET), Colectora Ruta Nac. 168 km. 0, 3000, Santa Fe, Argentina

    Melisa Bertero, Juan Rafael García, Marisa Falco & Ulises Sedran

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  1. Melisa Bertero
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  2. Juan Rafael García
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Investigation, formal analysis, writing—original draft, data curation, conceptualization: Melisa Bertero and Juan Rafael García. Visualization, conceptualization, supervision, methodology, resources, project administration: Marisa Falco and Ulises Sedran. Writing—review and editing, funding acquisition: Ulises Sedran.

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Bertero, M., García, J.R., Falco, M. et al. FCC Matrix Components and Their Combination with Y Zeolite to Enhance the Deoxygenation of Bio-oils. Bioenerg. Res. 15, 1327–1341 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-021-10322-z

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