Enhancing liquid hydrocarbon production from invasive plant via ex-situ catalytic fast pyrolysis coupled with electron-beam irradiation cracking

Abstract

Ex-situ catalytic fast pyrolysis of alligator weed (invasive plant) coupled with electron-beam irradiation (EBI) cracking is carried out in this investigation. Experimental results show that EBI possesses the advantage to crack and decompose heavy components in primary oil vapors into smaller oxygenates. Oil fraction and coke yields decrease gradually with increasing EBI dose rate, and water and gas yields show an opposite trend. It is demonstrated that EBI dose rate of 250 mGy/s favors the hydrocarbon production most. On the other hand, the augmentation of ZSM-5 catalyst proportion gives rise to a better catalytic conversion performance, resulting in the decrease in oil fraction yield and increase in water and gas yields. In addition, the carbon yields of hydrocarbons and oxygen-containing aromatic compounds in bio-oil increase significantly, whereas the carbon yield of oxygen-containing aliphatic compounds reduces at the studied catalyst-to-biomass mass ratio range.