Inside Cover: Conversion of Prairie Cordgrass to Hydrocarbon Biofuel over Co‐Mo/HZSM‐5 Using a Two‐Stage Reactor System (Energy Technol. 6/2016)

Catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP): The cover image demonstrates one promising technology (CFP) for converting biomass to liquid biofuels. The yield and quality of biofuels are depended on biomass species, reactor type, operating conditions (temperature, heating rate, etc.) and the activity of appropriate catalysts. Based on current catalytic research, a novel two‐stage reactor was tested for exploration of catalytic biomass pyrolysis. Lignocellulosic biomass materials such as prairie cordgrass can be converted into hydrocarbon biofuel over bifunctional Co‐Mo/HZSM‐5 catalysts, for which the effects of different metal loading levels were investigated for their influence on the pyrolysis products (bio‐oil, bio‐char, and non‐condensable gas). The physicochemical properties (such as water content, density, viscosity, higher heating value, and chemical composition) of pyrolysis products were characterized. The results indicate that integrating two‐stage catalytic pyrolysis system and Co‐Mo/HZSM‐5 could improve the yields and quality of bio‐oil with higher hydrocarbon content. Although further research is needed, the study confirms that catalytic biomass pyrolysis using a two‐stage reactor system might be an effective pathway for converting lignocellulosic biomass to advanced biofuels. More details can be found in the Full Paper by Shouyun Cheng, Lin Wei, Xianhui Zhao et al. on page 706 in Issue 6, 2016(DOI: 10.1002/ente.201500452).