Journal of Cleaner Production 176 (2018) 298e303

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Journal of Cleaner Production

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Bench scale catalytic fast pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches over low
cost catalysts and HZSM-5 using a fixed bed reactor
Donghoon Ro a, 1, Young-Min Kim b, 1, In-Gu Lee c, Jungho Jae d, e, Sang-Chul Jung f,
Sang Chai Kim g, Young-Kwon Park a, *
a
School of Environmental Engineering, University of Seoul, Seoul 02504, South Korea
b
Department of Environmental Sciences and Biotechnology, Hallym University, Chunchon 25242, South Korea
c
Biomass and Waste Energy Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research, Daejeon 34129, South Korea
d
Clean Energy Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, South Korea
e
Division of Energy & Environment Technology, KIST School, Korea University of Science and Technology, Seoul 02792, South Korea
f
Department of Environmental Engineering, Sunchon National University, Suncheon 57922, South Korea
g
Department of Environmental Education, Mokpo National University, Muan 58554, South Korea

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The performance of HZSM-5 and low cost catalysts, such as the spent fluid catalytic cracking (FCC)
Received 31 August 2017 catalyst, bentonite, dolomite, and olivine, on the production of high-quality bio-oil during the catalytic
Received in revised form pyrolysis of empty fruit bunches (EFBs) was compared in a bench scale fixed bed reactor. The spent FCC
4 December 2017
and HZSM-5 catalysts showed higher cracking performance than bentonite, dolomite, and olivine. The
Accepted 10 December 2017
Available online 11 December 2017
catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over the spent FCC catalyst showed higher selectivity to phenol (31.5%) and
alkyl phenols (26.0%) due to the effective dealkoxylation of guaiacols and syringols, whereas HZSM-5
provided the higher selectivity to aromatic hydrocarbons (40.4%). The catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over
Keywords:
Bench scale catalytic pyrolysis using a fixed
the spent FCC catalyst and HZSM-5 produced bio-oil with a higher heating value (28.44e31.18 MJ/kg)
bed reactor than other bio-oils obtained over bentonite (27.89 MJ/kg) and olivine (16.83 MJ/kg). The bio-oils obtained
Empty fruit bunches from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over the spent FCC and HZSM-5 catalysts also had a lower viscosity
Spent fluid catalytic cracking catalyst (7.0e13.5 mm2/s) than those (13.8e22.1 mm2/s) over the other catalysts, even after accelerated aging at
Aromatic hydrocarbons 80
C for 1 day.
Phenols © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
HZSM-5

1. Introduction and 600
C under non-oxygen atmospheres, is considered one of

The increasing energy crisis, air contamination, and greenhouse
gas emissions have become important worldwide issues due to the
massive use and depletion of fossil fuels (Mitchell, 2003). In this
situation, biomass is being considered as a solution to produce
renewable energy and reduce the dependence on fossil fuels
€m et al., 2017). A range of thermal technologies, such as
(Jernstro
torrefaction (Iroba et al., 2017), pyrolysis (Kim et al., 2016a), and
gasification (Wilk and Hofbauer, 2016), have been studied for the
production of high quality fuels and chemicals from biomass.
Among them, pyrolysis, which is the thermal decomposition of
polymeric materials at intermediate temperatures between 400
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: catalica@uos.ac.kr (Y.-K. Park).
1
Co-first authors.
the most suitable methods for producing high-yield and high-
quality bio-oil from biomass (Tchapda and Pisupati, 2014). The
bio-oil produced by pyrolysis has a huge potential to replace the
petroleum-based chemical feedstock or fuels as a cleaner product
that is sustainable due to the carbon (CO2) neutrality of biomass. In
this regard, pyrolysis studies of many types of biomass, such as
wood (Mohan et al., 2006), fruit peel (Kim et al., 2015b), miscanthus
(Heo et al., 2010), algae (Bae et al., 2011), and its main components,
hemicellulose (Patwardhan et al., 2011), cellulose (Jiang et al.,
2016), and lignin (Kim et al., 2016b), have been performed to
evaluate the feasibility of these feedstocks for the production of
bio-oil in recent decades. The amount and quality of bio-oil were
influenced largely by the lignocellulosic composition and ash
content of biomass (Yildiz et al., 2015). Although a large amount of
bio-oil can be obtained from the pyrolysis of biomass, it is unsuit-
able for direct use as a fuel or chemical because of the low quality of
biomass pyrolysis oil (Mamaeva et al., 2017) caused by the high

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.075
0959-6526/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 D. Ro et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 176 (2018) 298e303
water content, high oxygen content (Lee et al., 2017), and thermal
instability (Lee et al., 2016).
Empty fruit bunches (EFBs) are abundant biomass species har-
vested mainly in the subtropics (Shinoj et al., 2011). The amount of
waste EFB is increasing rapidly due to increasing cultivation of palm
(Vijaya et al., 2008). Although waste EFB can be used to produce
organic fertilizer or burnt to generate steam for the production of
electricity (Palamae et al., 2014), most of the waste is dumped in
landfill without proper treatment. This means that a large amount
of EFB can be used as a feedstock for the production of bio-fuel and/
or chemicals (Chang, 2014), and the pyrolysis of EFB can be a
candidate method for producing large amounts of bio-oil from EFB.
Sukiran et al. (2009) obtained 42.28% bio-oil from the pyrolysis of
EFB at 500
C using a fluidized bed reactor; the calorific value of the
bio-oil produced ranged from 20 to 21 MJ/kg. Abdullah and
Gerhauser (2008) improved the yield of bio-oil further using the
ash-removed EFB by a washing pretreatment. Although large
amounts of bio-oil can be produced by the pyrolysis of EFB, its
direct use as a fuel or chemical is still difficult due to the low quality
of bio-oil caused by the large quantities of unstable oxygen-
containing compounds (Rodionova et al., 2017). The catalytic py-
rolysis of EFB has been attempted as a means of overcoming the
limitations to the use of EFB pyrolysis oil. Auta et al. (2014) used
Ca(OH)2 as a catalyst for the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB and reported
an improved selectivity to phenolic compounds, that can be used as
a valuable chemical feedstock.
Many types of catalysts, such as metal oxides (Yoshikawa et al.,
2014), activated charcoal (Eibner et al., 2017), and microporous
zeolites (Kim et al., 2015a) and mesoporous materials (Kim et al.,
2017), have been tested for the catalytic pyrolysis of biomass. Of
these, HZSM-5 has been identified as the most appropriate catalyst
to produce high-quality bio-oil with a higher selectivity to aromatic
hydrocarbons because of its high acidity and suitable pore size.
Veses et al. (2015) attempted the use of low cost materials, such
as clay minerals for the catalytic pyrolysis of biomass. A spent fluid
catalytic cracking (FCC) catalyst, a by-product obtained from an oil-
cracking refinery plant, also has potential for the catalytic pyrolysis
of polymeric materials because it still has high acidity that can
promote the aromatization reactions of pyrolysis vapors. Barbarias
et al. (2015) reported the catalytic effects of spent FCC catalyst on
the catalytic cracking of plastic waste. They obtained high yields of
gasoline (52 wt %) and light olefins (28 wt %) from the catalytic
pyrolysis of high density polyethylene over the spent FCC catalyst,
which indicates that the spent FCC catalyst can provide sufficient
cracking efficiency for biomass pyrolysis. Zhang et al. (2013) also
examined the effects of different catalysts on the production of
aromatics and olefins via the catalytic pyrolysis of straw biomass
and found that the spent FCC catalyst exhibited high selectivity to
benzene and ethylene. The use of spent FCC catalyst for the catalytic
pyrolysis of plastics or biomass is meaningful because it can be a
possible way of recycling spent FCC catalysts (Ferella et al., 2016).
Other catalysts, such as bentonite (Sulman et al., 2009), dolomite
(Vassilatos et al., 1992), and olivine (Devi et al., 2005), have po-
tential use in the production of high-quality bio-oil via the catalytic
pyrolysis of biomass but their catalytic effects have not been
studied systematically. The use of these catalysts might be a solu-
tion to produce value-added products not only from EFB, but also
from other biomass. The economics of the catalytic pyrolysis pro-
cess can be improved using highly active and inexpensive catalysts.
In this study, the performance of HZSM-5, spent FCC catalyst,
other low cost catalysts, such as bentonite, dolomite, and olivine, on
the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB were evaluated using a fixed bed
reactor. The chemical composition of the products (gas and bio-oil)
was analyzed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry/flame
ionization detector/thermal conductivity detector (GC-MS/FID/
299
TCD). The heating value and viscosity of the fresh and aged bio-oils
obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB were also measured to
evaluate the stability of the product bio-oil.
2. Experimental
2.1. Sample
EFB of oil palm harvested in Indonesia, Elaeis guineensis, was
dried at 110
C for 24 h, milled, and sieved to make a particle size
between 400 and 600 mm. Table 1 lists the ultimate and proximate
analysis results of EFB.
2.2. Catalysts
Dolomite, olivine, and spent FCC catalyst were obtained from
local companies in Korea. Bentonite and silica sand were purchased
from Sigma Aldrich. HZSM-5(30, SiO2/Al2O3 ¼ 30) was supplied by
Zeolyst International. Before the catalytic pyrolysis experiments,
dolomite was calcined at 800
C for 2 h, and the other catalysts
were calcined at 550
C for 3 h and kept in a desiccator. BET analysis
results showed that HZSM-5 has the highest surface area (405 m2/
g), followed by spent FCC (171 m2/g), bentonite (19 m2/g), dolomite
(9 m2/g), and olivine (2 m2/g). This indicates that HZSM-5 and spent
FCC have a significantly larger surface area than the other catalysts,
which can have a positive impact on their activity. Table S3 and
Fig. S1 (Supplementary Information) present the analysis results
of the pore size and acidity.
2.3. Catalytic pyrolysis and product analysis
Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of the fixed-bed reactor used
in this study. The reactor consisted of a furnace, four cooling con-
densers using air or anti-freezing liquid cooling, and a gas sampling
bag (20 L Tedlar). For the thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over
each catalyst, a mixture of EFB (50 g) and catalyst (50 g) was loaded
onto the sample position at ambient temperature and 500 mL/min
of nitrogen gas was supplied to the system for 30 min before the
reaction to purge the residual air inside the reactor. After nitrogen
purging, the furnace was heated to the target temperature, 400,
500, or 600
C. When the furnace temperature was stabilized, fast
pyrolysis was initiated by sliding the furnace from the standby
position to the reaction position. During reaction time (1 h), the
pyrolysis vapor emitted from the furnace was condensed in four
condensers and the emission gas emitted from the last condenser
was collected in the gas sampling bag. After the experiments, the
yields of solid residue and condensed bio-oil were obtained by
checking their weights directly and the gas yield was calculated by
subtracting the summed weights of the solid residue and liquid
from that of the reactant. The chemical compositions of the bio-oil
Table 1
Proximate and ultimate analysis of EFB.
Sample EFB
Proximate analysisa (wt. %) Moisture 5.5
Volatiles 78.8
Fixed carbon 13.4
Ash 2.3
Ultimate analysisa (wt. %) C 42.6
H 5.7
Ob 39.5
N 1.7
S <0.3
a
Based on dried sample.
b
By difference.
300 D. Ro et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 176 (2018) 298e303
Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the fixed-bed reactor used in this study.
and gas were analyzed by GC equipped with three different de-
tectors: GC/MSD (bio-oil), GC/TCD (CO and CO2), and GC/FID (light
hydrocarbons C1~C4). Table S1 (Supplementary Information) sum-
marizes the detailed operating conditions of the GC/MS/FID/TCD.
The product yields (wt. %) and/or peak area % for the product gas
and bio-oil were calculated using the average values obtained from
multiple reaction results (more than two times). The yields of each
product gas (i.e., CO, CO2, and light hydrocarbons) were obtained
from the total gas yield multiplied by the selectivity of each prod-
uct. The gas product selectivity was calculated using the external
standard calibration method. The bio-oil produced could be sepa-
rated into an aqueous phase and organic phase. Elemental analysis
of the organic phase bio-oil was also performed to estimate the
heating value of the product bio-oil. The viscosity of the organic
phase bio-oil was analyzed using a U-type semi-micro viscometer
(Cannon-manning, size 200). For the viscosity measurements, 3 mL
of the organic phase bio-oil was injected into the holder in a water
bath (40
C). After 5 min, the bio-oil was moved to the opposite side
of a U-type tube by the vacuum applied by a syringe pump, and the
movement time was measured. The viscosity (mm2/s) was calcu-
lated from the moving time (s) of bio-oil in a U-type tube and the
viscosity constant at 40
C (0.09083 mm2/s2).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Non-catalytic pyrolysis of EFB
Fig. 2 presents the yields of gas, bio-oil, and solid residue ob-
tained from the non-catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over silica sand at
400, 500, and 600
C. Silica sand was used as a heat medium to
minimize the heat transfer limitation. As the pyrolysis temperature
was increased from 400 to 600
C, the gas yield was also increased
from 26.3% at 400
C to 28.8% at 600
C due to the more effective
cracking reaction at higher temperatures. At 600
C, the yield of
solid residue was also increased along with a decrease in bio-oil
yield, which suggests that the additional formation of solid res-
idue by the oligomerization of reaction intermediates was also
activated at 600
C. Among the three temperatures applied in this
study, the maximum bio-oil yield was obtained from pyrolysis at
500
C. This suggests that 500
C is the optimal temperature for
producing large quantities of bio-oil. Therefore, 500
C was applied
as the reaction temperature for the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB
because the decomposition temperature of biomass is not changed
significantly using the catalyst (Kim et al., 2016a,b,c).
3.2. Catalytic pyrolysis of EFB
Fig. 3 shows the yields of gas, bio-oil, and solid residue obtained
from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over bentonite, dolomite, olivine,
spent FCC catalyst, and HZSM-5(30) at 500
C. Compared to the non-
catalytic pyrolysis of EFB, catalytic pyrolysis produced smaller
quantities of bio-oil and larger amounts of solid residue. This suggests
that the additional conversion of bio-oils over the catalysts results in
a decrease of bio-oil yield and an increase in solid residue yield due to
coke formation on the catalyst. Table S2 (Supplementary Informa-
tion) lists the fraction of aqueous phase and organic phase oil.
Spent FCC catalyst and HZSM-5(30) produced a much larger
amount of gas and a smaller amount of bio-oil during the catalytic
 D. Ro et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 176 (2018) 298e303 301

50 that the spent FCC catalyst provides similar efficiency to HZSM-5

Bio-oil for the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB.
Solid residue
45 Gas Table 3 shows the selectivity to each chemical group in the
organic phase of bio-oils obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of
EFB over various types of catalyst used in this study. As expected,
Product yield (wt%)

40
the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over HZSM-5 showed the highest
selectivity to aromatic hydrocarbons compared to the other cata-
35 lysts because of its strong acidity and appropriate pore structure
(Rezaei et al., 2014). The high selectivity to aromatic hydrocarbons
30 in bio-oil and light olefins in gas can be explained by the general
catalytic pyrolysis reaction pathway of biomass over the acid cat-
25 alysts. During the catalytic pyrolysis of biomass, various types of
oxygen containing compounds, such as levoglucosan, acids, furans,
ketones, aldehydes, and phenols, are produced as the initial py-
20
350 400 450 500 550 600 650
rolysis products. Deoxygenation reactions, such as dehydration,
decarbonylation, decarboxylation, and cracking of these oxygen
Temperature (oC) containing pyrolyzates at the acid sites on the surface and in the
pores of the catalysts lead to the formation of light olefins. These
Fig. 2. Yields of gas, bio-oil, and solid residue obtained from the non-catalytic pyrolysis
of EFB over silica sand at 400, 500, and 600
C.
light olefins form a hydrocarbon pool inside the pores of the cata-
lysts that finally produces aromatic hydrocarbons (Zhang et al.,
2016). On the other hand, the conversion of phenolic pyrolyzates
50 to aromatics is preceded by phenolic pool mechanism suggested by
Bio-oil To and Resasco (2014). They indicate that the phenolic compounds
Solid residue
Gas
can be converted to other phenolic compounds via isomerization or
40 transalkylation, and the phenolic pool species via a condensation
reaction at the surface of the zeolite. The condensed phenolic pool
Product yield (wt%)

can produce aromatic hydrocarbons by cracking and H-transfer

30
reactions. The properties of the catalyst, such as the pore size and
acidity, and reaction temperature are important factors on the
formation of aromatic hydrocarbon from phenolic compounds via
20
the phenolic pool mechanism. In these results (Table 3), only the
catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over HZSM-5 showed decreased selec-
10 tivity to phenols. This suggests that the effective conversion of
phenols into aromatics via the phenolic pool mechanism is difficult
to achieve over other catalysts except for HZSM-5. Although the
0 spent FCC catalyst showed higher selectivity to aromatic hydro-
San
d
tonit
e m ite O liv
ine
nt F
CC (30) carbon following HZSM-5, it showed the highest selectivity to
Ben Dolo M-5
Spe HZS
phenols. To better observe the difference in the catalytic perfor-
Fig. 3. Yields of gas, bio-oil, and solid residue obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of mance of each catalyst on the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB, the
EFB over various catalysts at 500
C. chemical groups of phenols were subdivided into phenol, alkyl
phenols, guaiacols, syringols, and catechols, as shown in Table 4.
Compared to the other catalysts, the spent FCC catalyst produced
pyrolysis of EFB at 500
C than the other catalysts, suggesting that bio-oil with a much higher selectivity to phenol and alkyl phenols,
the catalytic cracking efficiencies of these two catalysts are higher and a lower selectivity to guaiacol and syringol. This suggests that
than those of the other catalysts. HZSM-5 is the most efficient the spent FCC catalyst provides higher efficiency for the deal-
catalysts, not only for the catalytic cracking of biomass, but also for koxylation of alkoxylated phenols, such as guaiacols and syringols.
the production of aromatic hydrocarbons (Elfadly et al., 2017). The Therefore, the spent FCC catalyst can be used as a proper catalyst to
yields of CO, CO2, and olefins in the gas product obtained from the maximize the yield of important chemical feedstock, such as
catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over the spent FCC catalyst and HZSM- phenol and alkyl phenols, during the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB.
5(30) were also much higher than those over the other catalysts Table 5 lists the element analysis results of the organic phase
(Table 2). The high yields of CO, CO2, and light olefins can be bio-oil obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over the cata-
explained by the effective catalytic reactions, such as decarbon- lysts used in this study. Compared to the non-catalytic pyrolysis of
ylation, decarboxylation, and dealkylation. These results suggest EFB, the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB produced bio-oil with a lower
oxygen content due to the effective deoxygenation reactions. As
expected, the bio-oil produced over HZSM-5 had a lower oxygen
Table 2 content than those over the other four catalysts. Although the spent
Yields (wt%) of CO, CO2, paraffins, and olefins in gas products obtained from thermal FCC catalyst showed higher catalytic pyrolysis efficiency than
and catalytic pyrolysis of EFB at 500
C. bentonite, dolomite, and olivine and achieved a higher carbon
Catalyst CO CO2 Paraffins (C1-C4) Olefins (C2-C4) content (63.4%) in the organic phase bio-oil, the oxygen content
(27.4%) in the organic phase bio-oil was not much lower than those
Sand 5.8 18.6 0.7 0.2
Bentonite 6.1 18.1 0.8 0.2 (25.8e29.7%) obtained over the other catalysts except for HZSM-5.
Dolomite 6.3 18.0 1.3 0.3 This is because the large amount of bio-oil obtained over the spent
Olivine 6.0 18.6 0.7 0.2 FCC consisted of phenol and alkyl phenols containing oxygen in
Spent FCC 7.1 20.3 1.1 0.4 their chemical structures (Tables 3 and 4). The heating values of the
HZSM-5(30) 8.4 20.1 0.6 0.6
organic phase bio-oils obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB
302 D. Ro et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 176 (2018) 298e303

Table 3
GC/MS peak area % of each chemical group in organic phase bio-oils obtained from thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of EFB at 500
C.

Catalyst Aromatic hydrocarbons Phenols Acids Ketones Furans Alcohols Other oxygenatesa

Sand 1.0 60.9 16.1 2.9 4.9 2.3 10.3

Bentonite 1.0 69.1 8.8 2.8 5.2 1.5 10.5
Dolomite 1.5 66.2 4.7 2.1 4.8 1.7 11.4
Olivine 1.1 62.5 15.0 4.0 4.2 3.3 8.8
Spent FCC 4.1 70.2 3.0 5.5 5.2 1.2 7.8
HZSM-5 40.4 37.2 8.7 1.5 0.3 1.6 0.8
a
Esters, Ethers, and other cyclo oxygenates.

Table 4 of unstable pyrolyzates (Ji-lu, 2007). The stability of bio-oil was

GC/MS peak area % of phenolic compounds in organic phase bio-oils obtained from improved by adding inhibitors or upgrading bio-oil via catalytic
thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of EFB at 500
C.
pyrolysis (Zhang et al., 2006). Fig. 4 presents the kinematic viscosity
Catalyst Phenol Alkyl phenols Guaiacols Syringols Catechols of the fresh bio-oil and aged bio-oil obtained from the accelerated
Sand 22.9 4.5 17.7 15.1 1.7 aging of fresh bio-oil performed at 80
C for 24 h. Although it takes
Bentonite 24.3 7.4 21.0 15.2 1.2 only 1 day, its aging extent is similar to aging at ambient temper-
Dolomite 24.8 15.2 14.6 11.6 <0.1 ature during 1 year (Oasmaa and Kuoppala, 2003). Among the
Olivine 22.9 3.5 18.6 17.1 0.4
catalysts examined in this study, the spent FCC and HZSM-5 pro-
Spent FCC 31.5 26.0 8.3 4.3 <0.1
HZSM-5 15.6 1.2 11.7 8.7 <0.1 duced bio-oils with a much lower viscosity than the other catalysts.
Although the kinematic viscosities of all bio-oils increased after the
accelerated aging treatment, those obtained over the spent FCC and
Table 5 HZSM-5 still had much lower kinematic viscosities than the other
Elemental analysis results and calculated heating value of organic phase bio-oils bio-oils. This indicates that spent FCC can also be used as a potential
obtained from thermal and catalytic pyrolysis of EFB at 500
C. catalyst for the production of high quality bio-oil with high selec-
Sand Bentonite Dolomite Olivine Spent FCC HZSM-5(30) tivity to phenol and alkyl phenols and long term stability.

C (wt%) 60.7 63.2 65.1 61.1 64.3 70.7

H (wt%) 7.5 7.4 7.4 7.3 7.5 7.4 4. Conclusions
N (wt%) 1.2 1.5 1.7 1.9 0.8 0.5
O (wt%) 30.6 27.8 25.8 29.7 27.4 21.4
Among the various types of catalysts used in this study, HZSM-5
HHV (MJ/Kg) 26.84 27.89 28.75 26.83 28.44 31.18
and spent FCC showed higher efficiency on the formation of high-
quality bio-oil having higher selectivity to aromatic hydrocarbons
over spent FCC and HZSM-5 were higher than those obtained from or phenolic compounds during the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB than
non-catalytic pyrolysis and catalytic pyrolysis over bentonite and bentonite, dolomite, and olivine. Although spent FCC could not
olivine. This suggests that the value of bio-oil, not only as a fuel produce larger amounts of aromatic hydrocarbons than HZSM-5, it
additive or chemical feedstock, but also as a fuel, can also be showed higher performance on the formation of phenol and alkyl
increased using spent FCC catalyst or HZSM-5. phenols. The heating value and viscosity of the fresh and aged bio-
oil obtained from the catalytic pyrolysis of EFB over HZSM-5 and
3.3. Bio-oil stability spent FCC highlight their potential use for the production of high
quality bio-oil with high selectivity to valuable products and long
The challenge to the use of bio-oil is its instability caused by the term stability. The combined use of spent FCC and HZSM-5 can be a
polymerization and condensation of the bio-oil components during potential way of producing large amounts of high quality bio-oil
long term storage. The viscosity of bio-oil can increase with time and need to be performed as future research.
even at room temperature due to the slow polymerization reactions
Acknowledgements
25
Fresh oil This work was supported by the New and Renewable Energy
Aged oil Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Tech-
20 nology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resource
from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea
(No. 20153030101580). This work was supported by the National
Viscosity (mm /s)
2

15 Research Council of Science & Technology (NST) grant by the Korea

government (MSIP) No. CAP-16-05-KIMM.

10
Appendix A. Supplementary data

5
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2017.12.075.

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