Study on aromatics production via the catalytic pyrolysis vapor upgrading of biomass using metal-loaded modified H-ZSM-5

The main objective of this work was to study aromatics production via the catalytic pyrolysis upgrading of biomass using metal-loaded modified H-ZSM-5. M-ZSM-5 catalysts were prepared through the impregnation method with Zn, Ga, Ni, Co, Mg and Cu. The prepared M-ZSM-5 catalysts were evaluated by x-ray diffraction, thermal desorption spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The properties, composition and product distribution of bio-oil were also analysed. Results showed that the M-ZSM-5 catalysts yielded a higher amount of non-condensable gas at the expense of the liquid yields. The Ga-ZSM-5 catalysts produced the highest yields of bio-oil (25.76 wt%), but the lowest amount of coke (22.08 wt%) compared with the unmodified ZSM-5 catalyst (33.38 wt%). The content of the single-ring aromatics prepared by using the Zn-ZSM-5 catalysts was the highest at 90.28 wt%, whereas that of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon prepared by the Ni-ZSM-5 catalysts was the highest at 31.36 wt%. Moreover, the selectivity of the single-ring aromatic hydrocarbons, such as C7 and C8, were significantly affected by the use of the M-ZSM-5 catalysts. The Zn-ZSM-5 catalysts were the most selective for toluene and xylenes with contents of 36.52 wt% and 35.32 wt%, respectively, whereas the Co-based catalysts were the most selective for indene. The Ni-based catalysts can obviously improve the selectivities of benzene production and C10+ polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Zn-ZSM-5 was the most effective catalyst that can be used in the production of aromatic hydrocarbons.