Study on Catalytic Pyrolysis of Rice Straw for Bio-oil Production
摘要
This study made use of rice straws to produce bio-oil through a catalytic pyrolysis process using both laboratory-scale fixed bed catalytic reactor and bench-scale auger pyrolysis reactor at a temperature ranging from 450 to 600 °C. The amount of bio-oil rose from 38.48 to 40.15 weight % in batch reactor while it rose from 31.7 to 34.6 weight % in auger reactor when the temperature rose from 450 to 500 °C because of an increase in the conversion of char into volatiles and gases. The catalytic cracking of bio-oil was investigated using kaolin and bentonite–supported nickel (Ni/kaolin, Ni/bentonite) catalyst to upgrade bio-oil. The Ni/kaolin-6 catalyst was found to be the most superior catalyst for reduction of the oxygen content of bio-oil from 50.4 ± 0.50% to 38.85 ± 0.39% and has a highest HHV value of 22.60 ± 1.13 MJ/kg. The FTIR and GCMS results show that Ni/kaolin-6 catalyst is the most superior for reducing the existence of aldehyde, ketone and alkenes while increasing the existence of aromatic groups and hydrocarbons in bio-oil samples. The hydrocarbon groups in bio-oil such as C-H, phenol and alcohols suggested that it could be utilised as a fuel.