CHINESE JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL PHYSICS VOLUME 26, NUMBER 4 AUGUST 27, 2013

ARTICLE
Transformation of Bio-oil into BTX by Bio-oil Catalytic Cracking
Jiu-fang Zhu, Ji-cong Wang, Quan-xin Li ∗
Department of Chemical Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China

(Dated: Received on April 11, 2013; Accepted on May 13, 2013)

Production of benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) from bio-oil can provide basic feedstocks
for the petrochemical industry. Catalytic conversion of bio-oil into BTX was performed by
using different pore characteristics zeolites (HZSM-5, HY-zeolite, and MCM-41). Based on
the yield and selectivity of BTX, the production of aromatics decreases in the following
order: HZSM-5>MCM-41>HY-zeolite. The highest BTX yield from bio-oil using HZSM-5
reached 33.1% with aromatics selectivity of 86.4%. The reaction conditions and catalyst
characterization were investigated in detail to make clear the optimal operating parameters
and the relation between the catalyst structure and the production of BTX.
Key words: Bio-oil, BTX, Catalytic cracking

I. INTRODUCTION as well as different biomass feedstocks (husk, sawdust,

sugarcane bagasse, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin)
Biomass conversion into benzene, toluene and xylenes with a lanthanum modified zeolite [11, 12]. Moreover,
(BTX) can provide the basic feedstocks for the petro- the catalytic conversion of biomass or its derived feed-
chemical industry, and these aromatics also serve as the stocks has been widely investigated with various zeolite
most important aromatic platform molecules for the de- catalysts such as ZSM-5, HZSM-5, Y-zeolite, Beta zeo-
velopment of high-end chemicals [1−3]. lite, Al-MCM-41, H-USY, SBA-15, and Al-MSU cata-
Bio-oil, produced from fast pyrolysis of lignocellu- lysts [13−23]. The remaining challenges for the trans-
losic biomass, has been identified as an important re- formation of biomass or bio-oil to light olefins include
newable feedstock for the production of bio-fuels and improving the selectivity and yield of target products
chemicals [4−6]. Compared with solid biomass as the along with suppressing catalyst deactivation.
raw material, liquid bio-oil, which can be readily stored The bio-oil can be separated by distillation treat-
and transported, is more suitable for the production ment into two components, (lighter and heavier frac-
of bio-fuels or chemicals on a large scale. Vispute et tions). Lighter fractions can be used as a useful feed-
al. outlined a unique route for bio-oil deoxygenation stock for the production of light olefins, hydrogen, and
into chemicals including aromatic hydrocarbons, light other bio-fuels or chemicals. The heavy components,
olefins and mixed alcohols with an about 60% overall mainly consisting of substituted phenols and aromatic
carbon yield, in which a cascade process including hy- oligomers produced by depolymerization of lignin con-
droprocessing of bio-oil over the Ru/C or Pt/C catalysts stituent in lignocellulosic biomass, can serve as a raw
followed by catalytic conversion of the refined bio-oil to material for production of BTX or other high value aro-
the hydrocarbons over the zeolite catalyst [4]. Zhang et matic chemicals. Our previous work showed that the
al. recently investigated the catalytic conversion of bio- heavy components of the bio-oil (bio-oil tar) were dif-
oil and hydrogenated bio-oil with different H/C ratios ficult to be transformed into light olefins or hydrogen
over the ZSM-5 catalyst, and showed that the yields as compared with its light components [11, 12, 24−28].
of aromatics and olefins increased and the coke yield Considering the composition characteristics, the heav-
decreased with increasing H/C ratio [7]. Gayubo and ier fractions are more suitable for use as a feedstock for
co-workers proposed a thermocatalytic two-step process production of high value aromatic chemicals. In this
for the conversion of the crude bio-oil into hydrocar- work, we investigate the catalytic transformation of the
bons with a HZSM-5 zeolite, and showed that bio-oil bio-oil to BTX. The study on the transformation of bio-
conversion and the light olefins selectivity are signifi- oil to BTX should be useful for the production of high
cantly enhanced by co-feeding methanol [8−10]. More value chemicals using renewable biomass feedstocks.
recently, our group investigated the production of light
olefins via catalytic cracking of the water-soluble bio-oil II. EXPERIMENTS
A. Feedstocks

∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Bio-oil was produced by the fast pyrolysis of biomass
liqx@ustc.edu.cn in a circulating fluidized bed with a capacity of 120 kg/h

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478 Chin. J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 26, No. 4 Jiu-fang Zhu et al.

TABLE I Main organic compounds (ethyl acetate extraction) in the bio-oil. tGC in min and x is the content of an organic
compound.
tGC Formula Compounds x/%
6.16 C4 H8 O2 2-Butanone, 4-hydroxy 0.11
6.62 C7 H8 O2 (2-Oxo-3-cyclopenten-1-yl)acetaldehyde 5.20
7.85 C5 H8 O3 2-Oxopropyl acetate 2.44
12.33 C6 H6 O Phenol 5.75
13.75 C6 H8 O2 Methyl cyclopentenolone 6.89
16.00 C7 H8 O2 Mequinol 9.40
19.16 C10 O8 Naphthalene 0.89
19.65 C8 H10 O2 2-Methoxy-6-methyl phenol 5.60
20.97 C12 H24 O3 3-Hydroxy dodecanonic acid 3.33
27.01 C25 H32 O8 6,7-Epoxypregn-4-ene-9,11,18-triol-3,20-dione-11,18-diacetate 4.62
29.35 C39 H78 O3 3-Octadecoxypropyl octadecanoate 1.28
31.35 C18 H32 O16 a-Maltotriose 0.99
34.33 C30 H42 O10 Sarreroside 1.87
37.58 C14 H10 Phenanthrene 0.29
38.50 C25 H36 O5 12-Acetyloxy-20-oxopregn-16-en-3-yl-acetate 0.18
41.22 C18 H24 O 17-Desoxyestradiol 1.56
43.12 C25 H26 O5 (3-Acetyloxy-4,4,10,13-tetramethyl-7-oxo-2,3,8,9,11,12,14,15,16,17-decahydro-1H- 1.11
cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17-yl) acetate
44.63 C27 H42 O4 2-(3-Acetyloxy-4,4,10,13,14-pentamethyl-2,3,5,6,7,11,12,15,16,17-decahydro-1H- 0.81
cyclopenta[a]phenanthren-17-yl)propanoic acid
45.42 C41 H64 O13 Digitoxin 0.14

oil at our Lab [24−28]. The density of bio-oil is flushed with He at 120 ◦ C for 1 h, the programmed-
1.160 Mg/m3 , LHV is 17.77 MJ/kg, and pH is 3.3. And desorption of NH3 was run from 120 ◦ C to 700 ◦ C with a
the main organic compounds (ethyl acetate extraction) heating rate of 10 ◦ C/min. The desorbed ammonia was
in the bio-oil are shown in Table I. The main elemental measured by a gas chromatograph (GC-SP6890, Shan-
composition of bio-oil feedstock derived from fast py- dong Lunan Ruihong Chemical Instrument Co., Ltd.,
rolysis of straw stalk contains 46.1%C, 7.1%H, 1.6%N, Tengzhou China) with a thermal conductivity detector
45.2%O, and 0.07%ash. Water content in the crude bio- (TCD). The N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms of the
oil is about 40.2%. The chemical formula of the oxy- catalysts were measured at 196 ◦ C using the COULTER
genated organic compounds of the crude bio-oil feed can SA 3100 analyzer.
be expressed as CH1.85 O0.74 .

C. Experimental setup and product analysis

B. Catalysts and characterization
The production of BTX from the catalytic cracking of
Different zeolites (such as HZSM-5, HY-zeolite, and bio-oil was carried out in a fixed-bed flow reactor under
MCM-41) were supplied by Nankai University catalyst atmospheric pressure. This system consists of a quartz
Co., Ltd. (Tianjin, China) and calcined in nitrogen tube reactor (inner diameter: 30 mm, length: 400 mm),
atmosphere at 550 ◦ C for 4 h prior to use. The elemen- a gas feed system, a liquid feed pump, a heater and tem-
tal contents of the catalysts were measured by induc- perature control system, a condenser and an off-line gas
tively coupled plasma and atomic emission spectroscopy analysis unit. For the typical runs, 10 g of the catalyst
(ICP/AES, Atomscan Advantage, Thermo Jarrell Ash crushed to a particle size of 40−60 mesh was uniformly
Corporation, USA). The catalysts were investigated filled in the catalyst bed, which was held in the reac-
by NH3 -TPD (temperature programmed desorption of tor by quartz beads. The liquid reactants were fed into
ammonia) and BET (Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface the reactor using a multisyringe pump (TS2-60, Baod-
area) analyses. For the NH3 -TPD tests, the catalysts ing Longer Precision Pump). Before the reactions, the
were at 500 ◦ C under helium flow (ultrahigh purity, reactor was flushed by nitrogen with the flow rate of
100 mL/min) for 2 h, and adsorption of ammonia was 200 mL/min for 2 h at the room temperature, and then
carried out at 120 ◦ C for 1 h. After the catalysts were was externally heated to a given temperature by the fur-

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Chin. J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 26, No. 4 Bio-oil into BTX by the Bio-oil Catalytic Cracking 479

TABLE II Performance of production of BTX from bio-oil over different catalysts.

Catalyst Overall carbon yield/% Aromatics carbon yield/%
Organic liquid Coke Gas Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
HY 16.3 33.3 44.8 1.3 6.0 3.9 1.6 1.0 1.5 0.9
HZSM-5 36.0 23.8 36.8 8.1 15.5 6.8 2.2 0.5 1.7 1.2
MCM-41 22.3 20.5 48.3 3.5 6.1 5.2 1.7 1.1 1.4 3.3
Catalyst Gas carbon yield/% Aromatics selectivity/%
CO, CO2 Alkanesb C2= -C4= Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
HY 26.1 10.5 8.2 8.0 36.9 23.9 9.9 6.3 9.2 5.6
HZSM 20.8 9.4 6.6 22.6 43.0 18.9 6.1 1.4 4.7 3.3
MCM-41 28.1 14.6 5.6 15.7 27.4 23.3 7.6 4.9 6.3 14.8
Reaction conditions: f (N2 )=200 cm3 /min, T =500 ◦ C, and 10 g bio-oil.
a
N/I means naphthalenes/indenes.
b
Gas alkanes.

nace heater with a programmed temperature controller.

TABLE III Main characteristics of the catalysts used in this
For gas product analysis, the entire gas in each run was
work∗ .
collected with air bags, weighed, and analyzed using a
Catalyst Si/Al SBET Vp dxrd Total acid/(µmol/g)
gas chromatograph (GC-SP6890, Shandong Lunan Rui-
hong Chemical Instrument Co., Ltd., Tengzhou, China) HZSM-5 25 282.4 0.20 18.8 580.6
with two detectors, a TCD (thermal conductivity detec- HY 6.2 620.0 0.35 22.0 2206.3
tor) for analysis of H2 , CO, CH4 , and CO2 separated MCM-41 157 932.5 0.79 3.7 280.0
on TDX-01 column, and a FID (flame ionization de- ∗
Si/Al is the ratio of silicon to aluminum in the zeolites,
tector) for gas hydrocarbons separated on Porapak Q SBET in m2 /g, Vp (pore volume) in cm3 /g, and dxrd
column. The moles of a gas product were determined (average granule size) in nm.
by the normalization method with standard gas. The
liquid products (oil and water) in each test were col-
lected by two liquid nitrogen/ethanol bath condensers.
xa
Condensed products from the condensers were weighed SA = × 100% (3)
to obtain the mass of liquid products. The total car- xAr
bon contents in the liquid organics were measured by a where xj means carbon moles in gas, liquid or solid
Vario EL III elemental analyzer, and the water content products. xfeed and xl are carbon moles fed in and in a
was analyzed by a moisture analyzer (Model ZSD-1, products, respectively. xa and xAr are carbon moles in
Shanghai, China). The main components of the liquid an aromatic product and aromatics, respectively. More-
organic products were further analyzed by a GC-MS over, the catalyst stability was tested with five sam-
(Thermo Trace DSQ (I)) with a TR-5MS fused-silica plings, obtained three liquid samples for 150 min of TOS
capillary column. The absolute moles of most of liquid (time of stream). Each sampling took about 30 min.
components were determined by the calibrated GC-MS
peak area with the standard samples. The solid residues
after each experiment were immediately removed from
the heating zone and cooled to room temperature in a III. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
N2 flow. The solid residues in each experiment were
A. Catalytic performance over different pore
weighed and measured by the TGA analysis (Q5000IR
characteristics zeolites
thermogravimetric analyzer, USA).
Overall carbon yields (Yj , C-mol%) of the gas, liq-
The comparison of the transformation of the bio-oil
uid and solid products, carbon yield (Yl , C-mol%) of a
into BTX was first carried out using different pore char-
specific product, and aromatic selectivity (SA , C-mol%)
acteristics zeolites (HZSM-5, HY-zeolite, and MCM-41)
were calculated based on Eq.(1)−(3) as previously de-
as catalysts. As shown in Table II, the carbon yields
scribed [12]. All tests were repeated three times and
of benzene, toluene and xylenes (BTX) derived from
the data reported are the mean values of three trials.
the catalytic cracking of bio-oil with different zeolites
xj decreased in the following order: HZSM-5>MCM-41>
Yj = × 100% (1) HY-zeolite. It was also found that the aromatic selec-
xfeed
xl tivity of benzene, toluene and xylenes using the HZSM-
Yl = × 100% (2) 5 were about 22.6%, 43.0%, and 18.9% respectively,
xfeed

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TABLE IV Effect of temperature on production of BTX from the bio-oil.

T /◦ C Overall carbon yield/% Aromatics carbon yield/%
Organic liquid Coke Gas Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
500 36.0 23.8 36.8 8.1 15.5 6.8 2.2 0.5 1.7 1.2
550 35.2 22.3 45.0 8.8 15.3 3.3 3.3 0.4 2.5 1.6
600 31.0 21.2 50.5 10.8 13.0 3.0 0.8 2.4 1.0
T /◦ C Gas carbon yield/% Aromatics selectivity/%
CO, CO2 Alkanesb C2= -C4= Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
500 20.8 9.4 6.6 22.6 43.0 18.9 6.1 1.4 4.7 3.3
550 25.2 12.1 7.7 25.0 43.5 9.4 9.4 1.1 7.1 4.5
600 28.2 13.8 8.5 34.8 41.9 9.6 2.6 8.0 3.2
Conditions: f (N2 )=200 cm3 /min and 10 g bio-oil.
a
N/I means: naphthalenes/indenes.
b
Gas alkanes.

which were obviously higher than the levels using HY- The products observed were divided into the fol-
zeolite or MCM-41 catalyst. On the other hand, the lowing categories: liquid organic compounds (mainly
coke yields using HZSM-5, MCM-41 and HY-zeolite are BTX), gaseous products (CO, CO2 , CH4 , C2-C4 alka-
about 23.8%, 20.5%, and 33.3%, respectively (reaction nes and C2= -C4= olefins) and coke (Table IV). At
condition: T =500 ◦ C, f (N2 )=200 cm3 /min, reaction higher reaction temperature (>500 ◦ C), the liquid or-
time=0.5 h). The transformation of the bio-oil over ganic products primarily consist of benzene, toluene
the Y-types zeolite produced more coke than that us- and xylenes (BTX), which are expected to mainly
ing HZSM-5, leading to a decrease in the BTX yield. result from the deoxygenation of oxygenated organic
Table III summarizes the main characteristics of the compounds along with the removal of groups such as
catalysts used in this work. The different performance methyl, hydroxyl and methoxy groups in the aromatic
of the transformation of the bio-oil into BTX using dif- rings with the zeolite catalyst. The bio-oil contained
ferent zeolite catalysts should be mainly attributed to acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, levoglucosan and
the differences in pore topology and acidities. esters, these compounds were almost completely con-
verted to the hydrocarbons (such as BTX) through de-
oxygenation, cracking and aromatization reactions at
the reaction temperature of 550 ◦ C. Increasing the tem-
B. Effect of temperature on transformation crude bio-oil
perature from 500 ◦ C to 600 ◦ C, the carbon yield of
BTX slightly decreased from 30.4% to 26.8l% due to
Table IV shows the effect of temperature on the cat-
the secondary cracking of the aromatic hydrocarbons.
alytic transformation of the bio-oil with the selected
The selectivity of BTX reaches a highest value of about
HZSM-5 catalyst. The overall carbon yields of liquid
86.3% at 600 ◦ C. The overall by-products like phenols,
organic products decreased with increasing the reac-
ethylbenzene, naphthalenes and indenes were reduced
tion temperature. A higher temperature will lead to
with increasing the reaction temperature. The above re-
the second cracking of liquid organics and the forma-
sults show that the BTX yield decreased with increasing
tion of gas hydrocarbons such as gaseous alkanes and
the reaction temperature, causing by the gasification of
olefins. Based on the component analysis, the bio-oil
bio-oil at high temperature. However, when the tem-
fed consisted of a complex mixture of oxygenated or-
perature was lower than 500 ◦ C, the bio-oil conversion
ganic compounds mainly including acids, ketones, al-
decreased, leading to the decrease in the production of
cohols, aldehydes, esters, substituted phenols together
BTX.
with levoglucosan, aromatic oligomers and other oxy-
genates (Table I). It should be pointed out that a large On the other hand, the distribution of the aro-
amount of oxygen (45.2%) is contained in the bio-oil. matics derived from the catalytic cracking of the
Catalytic conversion of these oxygenated organic com- bio-oil was also sensitive to the operation temper-
pounds in the bio-oil over a zeolite catalyst generally in- ature (Table IV). The order of different aromatics
volves complex reactions, mainly including deoxygena- (based on carbon yield) obtained at 500 ◦ C is as fol-
tion (decarbonylation, decarboxylation, dehydration), lows: toluene>benzene>xylenes>ethylbenzene>C9+
cracking, hydrogen transfer, cyclization, aromatization aromatics>phenols. With increasing reaction tempera-
and oligomerization reactions. The above observation ture, the formation of benzene and toluene significantly
suggests an increasing impact on the transformation of increased, accompanied by an obvious decrease in C9+
oxygenates into hydrocarbons at higher temperature. aromatics, phenols and xylenes. These changes in the

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TABLE V Effect of WHSV on production of BTX from the bio-oil.

WHSV/h−1 Overall carbon yield/% Aromatics carbon yield/%
Organic liquid Coke Gas Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
1.0 38.2 24.2 44.8 11.4 14.5 7.2 1.0 0.6 1.8 1.6
2.0 36.0 23.8 36.8 8.1 15.5 6.8 2.2 0.5 1.7 1.2
3.0 46.6 31.7 22.7 5.7 16.5 8.5 5.2 4.9 2.6 3.0
WHSV/h−1 Gas carbon yield/% Aromatics selectivity/%
CO, CO2 Alkanesb C2= -C4= Benzene Toluene Xylenes Ethylbenzene Phenols N/Ia Others
1.0 24.4 11.1 9.3 29.8 37.9 18.7 2.6 1.6 4.7 4.2
2.0 20.8 9.4 6.6 22.6 43.0 18.9 6.1 1.4 4.7 3.3
3.0 13.7 4.3 4.7 12.2 35.4 18.2 11.3 10.7 5.6 6.4
Reaction conditions: f (N2 )=200 cm3 /min, T =500 ◦ C, and 10 g bio-oil.
a
N/I means naphthalenes/indenes.
b
Gas alkanes.

FIG. 1 Catalyst stability in the catalytic cracking of bio-oil. Aromatics carbon yield (a) and aromatics selectivity (b) over
HZSM-5 catalyst, respectively. Reaction conditions: T =500 ◦ C, WHSV=2.0 h−1 .

aromatics distribution suggests that higher temperature quently, followed by the secondary reactions to produce
is favorable for further removal of groups from the ini- gas hydrocarbons through deoxygenation, cracking and
tial heavier aromatics (for example demethylation of hydrogen transfer processes.
xylenes), resulting in the increase in the benzene and
toluene yields.
Moreover, the gas products mainly consisted of CO, C. Effect of WHSV on the transformation of crude bio-oil
CO2 , C1-C4 alkanes and C2= -C4= olefins, and in-
creased with the temperature increasing from 500 ◦ C Table V shows the production of BTX from the cat-
to 600 ◦ C. CO and CO2 are formed via the decar- alytic cracking of bio-oil as a function of weight hourly
bonylation and decarboxylation reactions of the oxygen- space velocity (WHSV). WHSV is defined as the mass
containing organics over the zeolite catalyst. For the flow rate of the feed divided by the mass of the cata-
gaseous alkanes and light olefins, the oxygenated organ- lyst in the reactor. With the increase of WHSV from
ics in the bio-oil can be directly cracked to these smaller 1 h−1 to 6 h−1 , the BTX carbon yield gradually reduced
hydrocarbons through the deoxygenation and cracking from 33.1% to 30.7%. Increasing WHSV also resulted
processes i.e., in the decrease in the BTX selectivity, accompanied by
Cx Hy Oz → Cn H2n (n = 2 − 4) + an increase in the hydrocarbons selectivity of ethylben-
zene and phenol. Especially, the formation of benzene
Cn H2n+2 (n = 1 − 4) + H2 O/CO/CO2 (4)
decreased with the increasing WHSV, accompanied by
Also, the larger molecules in the bio-oil may be cat- the increase in the production of toluene and xylenes.
alytically cracked to the lighter organics, and subse- In addition, the gaseous alkanes and light olefins were

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482 Chin. J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 26, No. 4 Jiu-fang Zhu et al.

FIG. 2 XRD spectra for the fresh HZSM-5 catalyst and the
used HZSM-5 catalyst after catalytic conversion of bio-oil at
T =500 ◦ C and WHSV=2.0 h−1 .

remarkably reduced at higher WHSV. The increase of

space velocity generally shortens the reactants residence
time in the catalyst bed, leading to the decrease both
in the deoxygenation, the gasification, cracking and the
secondary processes such as removal of groups from the
initial heavier aromatics.

D. Catalyst stability in the catalytic cracking of crude

FIG. 3 NH3 -TPD spectra for the fresh HZSM-5 and the
bio-oil
used catalysts after the catalytic conversion of bio-oil at
T =500 ◦ C and WHSV=2.0 h−1 .
As shown in Fig.1, the catalyst stability in the cat-
alytic cracking of bio-oil was tested as a function of the
time on stream over the HZSM-5 catalyst under the typ- 220 ◦ C was assigned to the desorption of NH3 from
ical reaction condition (T =500 ◦ C, WHSV=2.0 h−1 ). the weak acid sites and another weak profile around
An obvious decrease in the BTX yield had been ob- 430 ◦ C corresponded to the desorption of NH3 from
served for 150 min (time on stream period). The yields the strong acid sites. The intersection between the
of benzene, toluene and xylenes decreased to about 1/2 strong and weak acid sites can be deconvolved into an-
of the initial levels. The selectivity of phenol over the other Gaussian component, referring to NH3 desorp-
used catalyst markedly enhanced, followed by the de- tion from the medium acid sites (around 260 ◦ C). After
crease in the BTX selectivity. The catalyst deactiva- the bio-oil cracking, the total acid sites of the zeolite
tion should be mainly caused by the carbon deposition catalyst obviously decreased from 580.6 µmol/gcata to
on the catalyst during the transformation of bio-oil into 241.7 µmol/gcata . The decrease in the total acid sites
BTX, considering that the activity of the catalysts can on the used HZSM-5 catalyst may partly cause the de-
be almost recovered by the coke burn-off method (not crease in the production of BTX (Fig.1).
shown here).

IV. CONCLUSION
E. Catalyst characterization
Catalytic pyrolysis of bio-oil for the production of
Figure 2 shows the XRD spectra for the pristine and BTX was performed by different pore characteristics
the used catalysts of HZSM-5. The structure of the zeolites. The highest BTX yield from bio-oil using
HZSM-5 zeolite remained after operating the cracking HZSM-5 reached 33.1% with aromatics selectivity of
of the bio-oil. However, the XRD peak intensity for 86.4%. The reaction parameters and the types of molec-
the used catalyst was reduced as compared with the ular sieve catalysts have an important impact both on
fresh one, indicating that the crystallinity decreased the BTX yield and its selectivity. Production of BTX
during the bio-oil cracking process. Figure 3 presents are expected to mainly result from the deoxygenation,
the NH3 -TPD profiles for the fresh and used HZSM-5 cracking and aromatization reactions of oxygenated or-
catalysts. All tested catalysts showed three acid sites ganic compounds in the bio-oil. The conversion of
with different acid strength. One strong profile around bio-oil to BTX may potentially provide an alternative

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Chin. J. Chem. Phys., Vol. 26, No. 4 Bio-oil into BTX by the Bio-oil Catalytic Cracking 483

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DOI:10.1063/1674-0068/26/04/477-483 c
°2013 Chinese Physical Society