Catalytic fast pyrolysis of cellulose to aromatics over hierarchical nanocrystalline ZSM-5 zeolites prepared using sucrose as a template

In this work, hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites were prepared by a hard template method (pre-crystallization and dry gel) using sucrose to obtain suitable mesopores for the catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of cellulose to produce aromatics. As the sucrose added decrease, the mesopore surface area and mesopore volume of the zeolites decreased while the micropore surface area and micropore volume increased. The mesoporous structure introduced by sucrose promoted the CFP of cellulose to aromatics by increasing the mass transfer of molecules. The highest aromatic yield of 37.0% was obtained over the hierarchical ZSM-5 zeolites prepared by the pre-crystallization method with sucrose*12/SiO2 = 0.15.