Investigation of product selectivity and kinetics of poplar sawdust catalytic pyrolysis over bi-metallic Iron-Nickel/ZSM-5 catalyst

Py-GC/MS and thermogravimetric analysis were carried out to systematically explore product selectivity and kinetics of poplar sawdust catalytic pyrolysis over bi-metallic Fe-Ni/ZSM-5. The results showed that the Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 exhibited an additive effect on the production of monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons compared to monometallic catalysts (Fe/ZSM-5 or Ni/ZSM-5). Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 further increased the yield of toluene (17.28 mg g(-1)), which was 41.4% and 80.9% higher than Fe/ZSM-5 and Ni/ZSM-5, respectively. According to the kinetic analysis, the average activation energy obtained from catalytic pyrolysis with Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 using the methods of Friedman, Starink, Flynn-Wall-Ozawa, and Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose was 156.19, 152.39, 154.30, and 152.11 kJ mol(-1), respectively. Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 addition lowered the activation energy compared to non-catalytic pyrolysis at the conversion rate of 0.15-0.75. The overall catalytic pyrolysis process of poplar sawdust follows the diffusion and nucleation models. The thermodynamic parameters (enthalpy and entropy) showed positive and negative values, respectively, indicating non-spontaneous reactions during the catalytic pyrolysis process.

Automated summary

In this study, the product selectivity and kinetics of poplar sawdust catalytic pyrolysis over bi-metallic Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 were investigated using thermogravimetric analysis and Py-GC/MS. The results showed that Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 exhibited higher selectivity towards monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons compared to monometallic catalysts. The addition of Fe-Ni/ZSM-5 also reduced the activation energy of the pyrolysis process, making it a potentially valuable catalyst for biomass conversion.