Pyrolysis and Catalytic Upgrading of Pinewood Sawdust Using an Induction Heating Reactor

The upgrading of pyrolysis bio-oil is an important process for obtaining stable, high-quality bio-oil. Rapid and uniform heating of both the biomass and the catalyst bed plays an important role in the product quality and in the overall process efficiency. Induction heating offers numerous advantages over conventional heating methods: rapid, efficient heating and precise temperature control. In this study, an advanced induction heating technology was tested for pyrolysis as well as catalyst bed heating. Three different catalyst-to-biomass ratios were studied (1:1, 1.5:1, and 2:1 weight basis), and the effect of catalyst bed temperature (290, 330, and 370 degrees C) was also investigated. The results were compared with conventionally heated catalyst bed reactor. Higher-quality bio-oil was obtained with induction heating reactor with increased yield of aromatic hydrocarbons and reduced oxygen content compared to conventional heating. Inductively heated catalyst was also observed to have lower carbon deposition after reaction, compared to conventionally heated catalyst. Higher Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area was available post-reaction for inductively heated catalysts. This observation could be attributed to higher thermal gradients in conventional reactors, which causes the condensation of molecules on the catalyst surface with cooler temperatures; these effects are less pronounced for the inductively heated catalyst.