Ni-CaO bifunctional catalyst for biomass catalytic pyrolysis to produce hydrogen-rich gas

In this study, high-value conversion of biomass energy was achieved by catalytic pyrolysis of corn cob in a fixed-bed reaction system to produce hydrogen-rich gas. Specifically, the effects of synthesis temperature and catalyst metal ratio of Ni-CaO bifunctional adsorption catalyst on pyrolysis gas composition, yield, and hydrogen conversion were explored. The results show that the Ni1Ca7-750 catalyst has a uniform morphology, small particulate size, large specific surface area, and good pore size distribution at a synthesis temperature of 750 °C and metal ratio of Ni/Ca = 1/7. Under the conditions of pyrolysis temperature of 600 °C and catalyst/biomass = 1/1, the syngas percentage of Ni1Ca7-750 was 85.81 vol. %, and the total pyrolysis gas yield reached 661.63 mL/gbiomass with the highest H2 concentration (68.62 vol. %), hydrogen yield (450.15 mL/gbiomass) and hydrogen conversion (65.97 wt. %). The percentage of CO2 in the pyrolysis gas was 9.11 vol. %, which was 65.4 % lower than that of the corn cob pyrolysis blank group. Thus, this study provides a specific reference for catalytic pyrolysis technology for biomass resource development and clean production.