Catalytic cracking of tar derived from the pyrolysis of municipal solid waste fractions over biochar

Abstract

The tars derived from the pyrolysis of four typical municipal solid waste fractions at 600 °C, namely pine wood (PW), tryptone (TP), polyethylene (PE) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC), were characterized and then catalytically cracked by activated biochar catalyst (ABC) at 700–900 °C. The ABC was produced from the pyrolysis of pine wood at 800 °C for 1 h, then activated by CO2 at 900 °C for 20 min. The results showed that O-containing species, N-containing species, chain hydrocarbons and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were the main products in the raw tar from the pyrolysis of PW, TP, PE and PVC, respectively. The tar cracking efficiency by ABC was ordered as PW>TP>PE>PVC, which indicated that the biomass tars were easier to be converted by ABC than plastic tars. The highest tar conversion of 98.7% was achieved for PW at 900 °C. Besides, N-containing tars were more stable than O-containing tars. The coke deposition on the ABC was more serious after the cracking of plastic tars (PE and PVC) than that of biomass tars (PW and TP). After the catalytic cracking of TP and PVC tars at 900 °C, the nitrogen and chlorine contents in ABC increased by 3 times and 10.5 times, respectively.