Synthesis of carbon based catalysts for the sustainable upgrade of agro-waste pyrolysis products into biofuels for rural areas

Pyrolysis provides a facile alternative for the upgrading of agro-waste to energy vectors. One of the most promising aspects of pyrolysis, is that small scale, inexpensive systems can be designed to produce biofuels from widely available waste in rural areas. Pyrolysis is a technology as old as human kind. Charcoal making, in fact, dates back some 38 millennia ago. Thus, rudimentary rigs can still be found in rural areas in developing countries. Biofuels produced in those rigs are often of low quality, however, consistent quality of products is difficult to achieve even in more sophisticated set-ups. In fact, due to the intrinsic diverse nature of biomass, the control of thermochemical decomposition during pyrolysis is challenging. As a result, bio-oils must undergo catalytic upgrade to reach standard fuel characteristics. Moreover, significant quantities of solid carbonaceous by-products (bio-chars) result from pyrolysis. This project aims at finding new routes to bio-oil upgrade using nano-catalysts prepared from bio-chars.

During the project, chars will be used as bio-templates on which selected inorganic nanoparticles are deposited for catalyst preparation during both 'off-situ' (after pyrolysis is completed) and 'in-situ' (during pyrolysis) routes. The metal deposition will be done by Chemical Vapour Deposition, dip-coating and printing techniques. Produced Catalysts will then be tested for bio-oils upgrade via catalytic esterification and decarboxylation. Lab scale pyrolysis will be carried out in a novel vertical rig installed at the School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London.