Ex-situ catalytic upgrading of corncob pyrolysis vapors into furans and phenols over Pt-Re/AC: Effect of Pt/Re ratio and process parameter

Abstract In order to improve the quality of bio-oils, catalytic fast pyrolysis of corncob over Pt/Re supported activated carbon (AC) catalysts was conducted to produce bio-furans and bio-phenols. The effect of Pt/Re ratio on the catalytic pyrolysis performance was evaluated. Pt and Re are uniformly dispersed on AC, but it results in the decrease of specific surface area. In addition, the amount of weak acidic sites increased and higher total weak acidity of Pt-Re/AC was contributed to the production of target products at low catalytic upgrading temperature. AC and Pt/AC inhibited the formation of phenols, and Re/AC and Pt-Re/AC promoted the formation of phenols. The relative peak area of furans over 1Pt-3Re/AC and Re/AC is 44.36 % and 41.98 %, respectively. Pt-Re/AC catalysts have a high selectivity for methylfurans (MFs) and phenol (P), remaining at 19 % ∼ 33 % and 17 % ∼ 21 %, respectively. Finally, 1Pt-3Re/AC showed good reuse performance.