Preparation of Aromatic Hydrocarbons from Catalytic Pyrolysis of Microalgae/Palm Kernel Shell Using PKS Biochar-Based Catalysts

The objective of this work was to prepare a biochar-based catalyst with higher reactivity and longer life cycle to convert biomass to aromatic hydrocarbons. The palm kernel shell (PKS) biochar-based supports were initially prepared at various temperatures and with different durations of steam activation, followed by catalytic fast pyrolysis tests. The effects of the variables on the biochar-based support properties in terms of aromatic hydrocarbons were investigated. At last, the biochar-based catalysts were prepared by impregnation method. Results indicated that the biochar-based supports were obtained at the optimum conditions of a temperature of 800 °C and a steam activated time of 50 min, for converting the mixed PKS/microalgae to aromatics with relative content values of 38.94 area% and 49.53 area%, respectively. The characteristics of abundant continuously pore size distributions were observed on the surface of the optimum biochar-based support, resulting in a service longer life than the HZSM-5 catalyst during the copyrolysis of PKS/microalgae. The Mg-biochar catalyst exhibited the highest relative content of aromatics during the copyrolysis. It is expected that biochar-based catalysts can be widely applied for biomass fast pyrolysis