Catalytic Fast Pyrolysis of Bagasse Using Activated Carbon Catalyst to Selectively Produce 4-Ethyl Phenol

Abstract

Fast pyrolysis of bagasse catalyzed by activated carbon (AC) at low temperatures offered a new and promising way to produce the valuable 4-ethyl phenol (4-EP) compound in high selectivity. In this study, the technique of pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS) was first applied to investigate several factors on the 4-EP production, including biomass type, fast pyrolysis temperature, AC-to-bagasse ratio, and catalytic pattern (in situ or ex situ catalysis). Moreover, fast pyrolysis experiments by using AC catalyst were conducted in a lab-scale setup to quantitatively determine the pyrolytic products. The experimental results indicated that, among these five herbaceous biomass materials, bagasse was the best material to produce 4-vinylphenol (4-VP) from the noncatalytic process and 4-EP from the catalytic fast pyrolysis process, respectively. 4-VP and its precursors could be catalytically hydrogenated into 4-EP with high selectivity under the catalysis of AC catalyst. Both catalytic pyroly...