Bio-oil upgrading by cracking in two-stage heated reactors

Abstract

The objective of this research is to explore the possibility to upgrade gasified bio-oil in bench-scale fixed bed reactors with two heating units using the cracking method. The bio-oil is derived from Japanese cedars which are widely distributed in Japan. The catalyst is HZSM-5 zeolite, which is commonly used in bio-oil upgrading. The result showed that by using two heating units, even without catalyst, the upgrading was achieved as well. The catalytic cracking promoted the deoxygenation rate and further improved the quality of the upgraded oil compared with the non-catalytic cracking case. By separating two heating units with different operating condition, the catalytic effect and the deactivation of the catalyst was clarified. The raw bio-oil and the upgraded oil were characterized by measuring their element content, water content and the chemical composition of its organic fraction.

Keywords

• cracking
• bio-oil upgrading
• zeolite catalyst
• fixed bed
• two-stage reactors