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

热解为将农业废弃物升级为能源载体提供了一种简便的替代方法。热解最有前途的一个方面是，可以设计小规模、廉价的系统，从农村地区广泛存在的废物中生产生物燃料。热解是一项和人类一样古老的技术。事实上，木炭制作可以追溯到大约3.8万年前。因此，在发展中国家的农村地区仍然可以找到简陋的钻机。这些钻井平台生产的生物燃料通常质量较低，然而，即使在更复杂的设备中，也很难实现产品的稳定质量。事实上，由于生物质固有的多样性，热解过程中热化学分解的控制是具有挑战性的。因此，生物油必须经过催化升级才能达到标准燃料特性。此外，热解还会产生大量固体碳质副产物（生物炭）。该项目旨在寻找利用生物炭制备的纳米催化剂升级生物油的新途径。在该项目中，炭将被用作生物模板，在“非原位”（热解完成后）和“原位”（热解过程中）两种途径中，选择无机纳米颗粒沉积在其上，用于催化剂制备。金属沉积将通过化学气相沉积、浸渍涂层和印刷技术来完成。然后，生产的催化剂将通过催化酯化和脱羧来测试生物油的升级。实验室规模的热解将在安装在伦敦玛丽女王大学工程与材料科学学院的新型垂直钻机上进行。

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.