Perspective on Catalytic Biomass Pyrolysis Bio-oils: Essential Role of Synergistic Effect of Metal Species Co-substitution in Perovskite Type Catalyst

Abstract

Due to being an economic alternative to various oxides and even noble metals in many catalytic applications, perovskites are getting interest day by day by the researchers. The aim of this study is to evaluate the synergistic effect of metal species co-substitution in perovskite type catalysts in different biomass types pyrolysis process. Thus, evaluating the feedstocks and pyrolysis products in terms of yields, quality and potential use is successfully achieved. Perovskite-type catalysts LaCo0.5Mn0.5O3, LaMn0.5Ni0.5O3 and LaCo0.5Ni0.5O3 were prepared by sol–gel method, characterized by N2 adsorption– desorption, XRD and SEM techniques, and performed in the catalytic pyrolysis of two biomass samples (date seed and mandarin peel) in a tubular reactor at 520 °C with 100 °C/min and 100 cm3/ min N2 atmosphere. Partial substitution of Bʹ was found to favor the catalytic activity as compared to non-catalytic results. The best pyrolysis performance was obtained with LaMn0.5Ni0.5O3, achieving maximum bio-oil yield of 28.33 and 25.73% for date seed and mandarin peel, respectively. Moreover, the best performance of LaMn0.5Ni0.5O3 signifies the best synergistic effect between Ni and Mn. The bio-oil characterization including elemental analysis, 1H-NMR, FT-IR, and GC–MS results showed that catalysts favored to increase the H content and decrease the O content. It was also established that the bio-oil produced from date seed has the highest potential respecting upgrading the bio-oil to achieve valuable chemicals.