In-situ and ex-situ catalytic pyrolysis/co-pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches using mesostructured aluminosilicate catalysts

Mesostructured aluminosilicates of Al-MSU-F (commercial), Al-SBA-15 (home-made), and mesoMFI (a mesoporous aluminosilicate with MFI structure, home-made), with a silica-to-alumina ratio of 40, were used as catalyst for the in-situ catalytic pyrolysis (CP) of empty fruit bunches (EFB) at 600 °C. The highest selectivity to aromatic hydrocarbons in bio-oil was obtained over mesoMFI due to its higher acidity than Al-SBA-15 and Al-MSU-F. In addition, ex-situ CP of EFB using mesoMFI was compared with in-situ CP; the ex-situ configuration produced higher aromatic hydrocarbons than the in-situ configuration. Meanwhile, in-situ and ex-situ catalytic co-pyrolysis (CCP) of EFB (with a H/C_eff ratio less than 0.3) and polypropylene (PP) (with a high H/C_eff ratio about 2) were carried out using the mesoMFI at 600 °C to investigate the supplementary effect of PP on the deoxygenation of EFB-derived pyrolyzates for producing aromatic hydrocarbons. Ex-situ CCP of EFB/PP (with the mass ratios of 75/25, 50/50, and 25/75) resulted in a lower formation of aromatic hydrocarbons than the in-situ CCP. In addition, the thermal decomposition behavior of EFB, PP, and EFB/PP in non-catalytic and catalytic (mesoMFI) pyrolysis/co-pyrolysis was investigated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA); use of catalyst reduced the temperature of PP thermal degradation, but did not change the maximum reactivity temperature of EFB degradation.