Effect of acidic activated natural zeolite on characteristics of bio oil derived from pinus merkusii’s cone pyrolysis

Abstract

Due to diminishing fossil fuel, energy alternative availability becomes very crucial. Bio-oil is one of the alternative energy sources obtaining from the biomass pyrolysis process. This study's aim is to determine the effect of temperature and the addition of catalysts in the pyrolysis process. The catalyst was made of natural zeolite which was activated with an H2SO4 solution of 0.5 N and then heated at 350oC for 12 hours. The pyrolysis of dry pine cone powder was run in a fluidized bed reactor enclosed by a furnace at a heating rate of 15oC/min and residence time for 3 hours. From the existing variations, the largest bio-oil yield i.e. 34.28% was obtained from non-catalytic pyrolysis at the temperature of 500oC, however, the bio-oil conceived high acids. On the other hand, the bio-oil comprised high phenolics and aromatics were generated from catalytic pyrolysis with 5% wt catalyst at a temperature of 500o C. Eventually, the bio-oil from Pinus Merkusii cone has the potential to be biofuel and biochemical materials.