Catalytic pyrolysis of cellulose and chitin with calcined dolomite – Pyrolysis kinetics and products analysis

This work comparatively investigated the pyrolysis characteristics and products of cellulose and chitin with/without the calcined dolomite. The apparent activation energy (Ea) of chitin was much lower than that of cellulose due to the difference of chemical structure. The calcined dolomite had a high catalytic activity in reducing the Ea of biomass pyrolysis. Ea was decreased from 161.91 KJ/mol to 145.49 KJ/mol for the cellulose pyrolysis, while it was decreased from 144.67 KJ/mol to 138.43 KJ/mol for the chitin pyrolysis. In the presence of calcined dolomite, the pyrolysis products were upgraded. The conversion of anhydrosugars into small-molecular compounds (e.g., ketones, alcohols, aldehydes, light hydrocarbons) was enhanced during the cellulose pyrolysis. More organic-N compounds (e.g., acetamidos, N-heterocycles) and other small-molecular components (e.g., ketones, hydrocarbons) could be generated during the chitin pyrolysis. In summary, the calcined dolomite showed good performance in cracking large-molecular compounds to small-molecular compounds during the pyrolysis of biopolymers.