Production of bio-oil from biomass and catalytic upgrading of bio-oil

The main aim of this study is to investigate the effect of pyrolysis system (one-step and two-step pyrolysis) on the thermal and catalytic conversion of pine tree wastes (pine bark (PB), pine dust (PD) and pine cone (PC)) to pyrolysis products especially bio-oil upgrading. One-step pyrolysis of PB, PD and PC was performed with and without catalyst in a fixed bed reactor at four different temperatures ranging from 300 to 600 °C. Two-step pyrolysis of PB, PD and PC was carried out in a dual reactor system with and without catalyst in similar conditions. The catalysts used in the two-step pyrolysis system were the commercial Fluid Catalytic Cracking catalyst (ReUS-Y), the commercial zeolite catalyst (ZSM-5) and Red Mud. In the case of one-step catalytic pyrolysis, the catalyst (ReUS-Y) was in contact with solid biomass. The bio-oil yields produced from two-step thermal pyrolysis of PB and PD were higher than the yields from one-step thermal pyrolysis. In contrast, the bio-oil yield obtained from one step thermal pyrolysis of PC was higher than two step pyrolysis. As a conclusion, from the view point of the bio-oil yield and quality, two-step pyrolysis of pine wastes in the presence of ReUS-Y catalyst seemed to be the most appropriate among the tested pyrolysis conditions.