Production of phenolic-rich value added chemicals from biomass

In this study, production of phenolic-rich hydrocarbons from biomass via catalytic pyrolysis was aimed. Fir sawdust, pine sawdust and nutshell were selected as raw biomass sample. In the first part of the study, biomass samples were applied to acidic and hydrothermal pretreatment. In the second part, thermal degradation kinetics of the biomass samples was examined. In the third part, non-catalytic and catalytic pyrolysis experiments were carried out by using Py-GC/MS system. Phenolic compounds are obtained by pyrolysis of the lignin, and acidic and hydrothermal pretreatment are applied to biomass to increase the lignin content of the biomass used. Highest lignin content was obtained by applying 1M acid pre-treatment; in hydrothermal pre-treatment applications, 190 °C, 1/5 biomass/water ratio, 5 min and 5 bar conditions. Knowing thermal degradation behaviour and kinetic parameters of pyrolysis process are very important for reactor design. The effect of the two different pre-treatments on the kinetic parameters applied to biomass was investigated using KAS, OFW and CR methods. The pre-treatments affected the serial and parallel reaction rates during the pyrolysis process and the calculated activation energy values changed accordingly. In the third part, commercially available ZSM-5 was impregnated with boron to arrange effective pore diameter and the selectivity of phenolic hydrocarbons from pyrolysis of biomass was increased. Considering that the purification of phenolic hydrocarbons from the pyrolysis liquid product requires additional costs and energy, it is determined that applying simple pre-treatments to biomass and catalytic pyrolysis could be used to obtain richer phenolic hydrocarbons.