Albis Arrieta A., Ortiz Munoz E., Blanco Garcia V., Galvis Cantillo A., Vanegas Chamorro M., Valencia Ochoa G., 2018, Catalytic Effect of CaCl2 and ZnSO4 on the Pyrolysis of Cedar Sawdust, Chemical Engineering Transactions, 65, 673-678.
The catalytic pyrolysis of biomass is a promising way to improve Bio-oil properties and increase the selectivity to targeted chemicals. The catalytic effect of ZnSO4 and CaCl2 on the pyrolysis of cedar sawdust was studied via simultaneous thermogravimetric analysis and mass spectrometry (TG/MS). 3% of each catalyst and a mixture of 1.5% of each one were added to cedar biomass samples. Experiments were performed in helium atmosphere at 100 K/min. Kinetics was evaluated using two models: nth reaction order model, and distributed activation energy model (DAEM). Catalyst had a strong influence on the distribution of major products and the thermogravimetric profile of the pyrolysis process. Thermogravimetric data had a good adjustment to DAEM model. Both catalysts speed up the pyrolysis of cedar sawdust and have a strong influence on kinetics parameters of pyrolysis of the studied biomass.
