Abstract
A process simulation model was created using Aspen Plus to investigate the hydrodeoxygenation of 4-propylguaiacol, a model component in lignin-derived pyrolysis oil, over a presulphided NiMo/Al2O3 solid catalyst. Process simulation modelling methods were used to develop the pseudo-homogeneous packed bed microreactor. The reaction was conducted at 400 °C and an operating pressure of 300 psig with a 4-propylguaiacol liquid flow rate of 0.03 mL·min−1 and a hydrogen gas flow rate of 0.09 mL·min−1. Various operational parameters were investigated and compared to the experimental results in order to establish their effect on the conversion of 4-propylguaiacol. The parameters studied included reaction temperature, pressure, and residence time. Further changes to the simulation were made to study additional effects. In doing so, the operation of the same reactor was studied adiabatically, rather than isothermally. Moreover, different equations of state were used. It was observed that the conversion was enhanced with increasing temperature, pressure, and residence time. The results obtained demonstrated a good model validation when compared to the experimental results, thereby confirming that the model is suitable to predict the hydrodeoxygenation of pyrolysis oil.
Highlights
Pyrolysis of biomass, a renewable source, is noted to be an attractive process to produce biomass-derived fuels due to its economical and operational advantages
The HDO of bio-oil in microreactors is mainly studied on an experimental basis, so there is great potential to perform these studies on a theoretical basis
The results obtained from the process modelling performed in Aspen Plus for the catalytic HDO of 4-propylguaiacol to 4-propylphenol show a very good agreement with the experimental results utilised from literature, as well as the results achieved from the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study
Summary
A renewable source, is noted to be an attractive process to produce biomass-derived fuels due to its economical and operational advantages. The hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process is a desirable method to process oxygen containing compounds (acids, aldehydes, alcohols, and phenols) for fuels This method is more superior to other methods, such as catalytic fast pyrolysis, in terms of lower conversion efficiencies [7]. Lv et al [12] investigated the fast pyrolysis of biomass in a dual fluidized bed reactor and the HDO of bio-oil using Aspen Plus. Bagnato et al [13] investigated the process and techno-economic analysis based on the catalytic HDO of biomass derived fast pyrolysis oil using Aspen Plus. Even though many of these processes are often investigated in larger conventional reactors, microreactors have gained an increasing attention recently in fuel production industries These miniature devices are associated with high surface area to volume ratio, enhanced mass and heat transfer, and reduced residence times. The results obtained were validated with experimental data from literature to evaluate the strength of the simulation model and can be further used to improve the performance of the microreactor
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