(363as) Liquid Metal Catalyst for Bio and Synthetic Polymer Pyrolysis

Decomposition of bio or synthetic polymers to valuable products – such as lignocellulosic biomass conversion to biofuels, and recycling plastics to its monomers – is still a challenging process. Pyrolysis is known as one of the most feasible and scalable thermal conversion processes. Biomass conversion leads to production of heavily oxygenated oil with wide carbon distributed mixture. Heterogeneous catalysts such as zeolites and alumina were studied to produce narrowly distributed deoxygenated oil. But this class of catalysts suffer from deactivation due to coke deposition on active sites which hinder their commercialization. There is an emerging class of metal catalysts in liquid phase that has been known to address the deactivation from coking. Liquid metals (LMs) have been proven to show separation from coke during reaction due to the inherent density difference between coke and metal in liquid phase thereby promoting a renewed catalyst surface. But there is a lack of research into investigating LMs as a robust catalyst alternative for bio and synthetic polymer pyrolysis process.

Firstly, establishing the evidence of catalysis using LM systems for cellulose, lignin (major biomass model compound) and polycarbonate (example synthetic polymer) pyrolysis is the first important step. Indium, tin and bismuth are chosen as candidate catalysts for low melting LM systems based on their melting point < onset of pyrolysis. Deconvolution of the pyro-oil product spectrum using GC-MS, and elemental and FTIR analyses of char together provide a soundproof of catalysis for each LM catalyzed pyrolysis case.

The second step will focus on proving the robustness of LM catalytic systems against deactivation through coking. Using a semi-batch reactor setup raw material will be fed into the system catalyzed by the same LM catalyst bed. Deriving bio-oil product distribution more like the non-catalyzed pyrolysis will act as the baseline for comparison of the catalytic effect.

Finally, we are interested in gaining a broader insight into the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with the biomass pyrolysis via LMs for the purpose of diesel production and compare it with conventional non-catalytic pyrolysis process using life cycle assessment (LCA).

Research interests:

1. Engineering efficient reaction setup: My primary focus in designing reactors and implementing product separation techniques to assess innovative catalysts for bio and synthetic polymer pyrolysis, as well as for alkane dehydrogenation reactions. My strong grasp of transport phenomena and fundamental chemistry principles enables me to effectively develop liquid metal column setups.

1. Product and material characterization techniques: I’m also dedicated to exploring oil separation, identification and quantification techniques involved in pyrolysis oil evaluation, Such as GC-MS, HPLC and GC-FID to name a few. Additionally, I also have expertise in material characterization techniques involved in catalysts, char characterization techniques such as ATR FT-IR, XRD, Raman to name a few.

1. Technology for assessing commercial applications: My interests also extend to evaluating the feasibility for commercialization using life cycle assessment.

Keyword: Biomass, Pyrolysis, Batch reactor, Liquid metal, GC-MS