Steam reforming of bio-oil from coconut shell pyrolysis over Fe/olivine catalyst

Abstract

Catalytic steam reforming of coconut shell pyrolysis bio-oil over Fe/olivine catalyst was conducted in a fixed-bed quartz reactor. The effects of calcination temperature, iron loading, reaction temperature, steam to carbon ratio (S/C), bio-oil weight hourly space velocity (WbHSV) on gas composition and carbon conversion were investigated. The results indicate that Fe/olivine has good activity for steam reforming of bio-oil, the couple Fe2+/3+/Fe2+ may be sufficiently efficient for C–C, C–O and C–H breaking. After steam reforming, most of the phenolics in pyrolysis oil are converted into light molecular compounds such as H2, CO, CO2, and CH4. The H2 concentration and carbon conversion were enhanced by increasing reaction temperature from 750 to 800°C and the S/C from 1.5 to 2, but decreased with increasing calcination temperature. In the WbHSV range of 0.5–0.6, the hydrogen concentration decreased obviously, whereas it decreased slightly by further increasing WbHSV. The highest hydrogen concentration of 47.6vol% was obtained among the catalysts tested, and the best carbon conversion was 97.2% over 10% Fe/olivine catalyst under the reforming conditions of temperature=800°C, WbHSV=0.5, S/C=2.