Pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse for bio-chemicals production catalyzed by micro-mesoporous composite molecular sieves

The main objective of this work was to investigate the effects of metal modified micro-mesoporous composite molecular sieves ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 on the production of valuable chemicals from the pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. Metal (Cu, Mg, Ga, Ni, Pd, Ce, Co, Zn) modified ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 catalysts were prepared by two-step crystallization method and characterized by N2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray diffraction and temperature-programmed desorption of ammonia. The product distribution and composition of liquid product were also analyzed. Results showed that Ni-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 catalysts yielded a higher amount of liquid. The chemical compounds of liquid products contained furans, aliphatics, organic acids, phenols, aromatics and esters. Among the Me-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 catalysts, Ce-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 promoted the production of furans. The production of the main furans was 44.04 area%. Meanwhile, Pd-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 had the advantage of improving phenols production, followed by Ce-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15. The productions of main phenols were 45.13 area% and 41.69 area% obtained with Pd-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 and Ce-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15, respectively. Furthermore, Ce-ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 exhibited high selectivity for light phenols. The introduction of metal for ZSM-5/Al-SBA-15 had a positive effect on enhancing valuable chemical products, such as furans and phenols.