Application of natural minerals for in-situ catalytic pyrolysis of orange peel Academic Article in Scopus uri icon

abstract

  • © 2018 Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. All rights reserved.Natural mineral catalysts dolomite and clinoptilolite were evaluated in their calcined and non-calcined form for application in the catalytic in-situ pyrolysis of orange peel. Biomass pyrolysis improved when using calcined catalysts, with an increase in biogas yields (5.4 and 5.2% increase for dolomite and clinoptilolite, respectively), while non-calcined catalysts promoted higher condensate yields with an increment of 21.3 and 16.2% for dolomite and clinoptilolite compared with the calcined catalyst tests. Characterization of the condensate fraction with GC-MS showed formation of less oxygenated organic molecules in the pyrolysis tests, with an increase of 66% and 139% in the relative areas of organic compounds with an atomic content lower than 20%, when calcined dolomite and clinoptilolite were used, respectively, compared with the non-calcined catalysts. A prominent formation of Limonene was also observed. Syngas analysis with GC-TCD showed calcined clinoptilolite promoted higher hydrogen contents, while calcined dolomite showed increased CO and CO2 production at the highest pyrolysis temperatures. The presence of catalyst almost always promoted higher primary gas generation when compared with the non-catalytic test. The kinetic study of the catalytic pyrolysis of orange peel showed calcination of the natural minerals promotes a decrease in the apparent activation energy and an increase in the kinetic constant of the process, which shows the promising application of natural minerals as catalysts for biomass pyrolysis applications.

publication date

  • January 1, 2018