Twin reactor catalytic assisted pyrolysis for food court waste conversion into high end chemicals

Abstract Waste generation is growing every day and its disposal presents multiple challenges. One particular type of waste consists of food court waste (FCW) from food areas in malls. Its disposal requires many stages, starting with transportation, continuing with sorting and recycling, and ending with landfilling or combustion. Thus, this study managed to convert FCW into valuable products, disposing of it at the same time in an environmentally friendly way. For this ex situ catalytic pyrolysis process, experiments were performed by passing products from pyrolysis performed at 500 °C through HZSM5 or MeHZSM5 catalyst (Me = Co, Mo) kept at 300, 350 or 400 °C. The upgraded oil contained levoglucosan as main component when HZSM5 catalyst was used, regardless of the catalyst temperature, whereas when CoHZSM5 or MoHZSM5 catalysts were used, the levoglucosan formation was inhibited, with formation of ethylene glycol monoacetate as main component in the produced oil. The best performing catalyst for ethylene glycol monoacetate formation (∼80 % of bio-oil) proved to be MoHZSM5 at 350 °C. Therefore, our study managed address several issues simultaneously: a) costs cuts due to lack of sorting and processing; b) production of important chemicals from waste; c) waste disposal in an environmentally friendly way.