Study on the feasibility of using monolithic catalyst in the in-situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis for syngas production

In-situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis for syngas production is a competitive technology for the recovery of energy in biomass. However, in conventional in-situ catalytic pyrolysis process, the mode of catalyst introduction makes it difficult to separate the catalyst from the char after pyrolysis, resulting in difficulty in catalyst recycling. We considered that the use of monolithic catalyst which has larger size than the biomass feedstock might solve the problem of the separation difficulty between the catalyst and char. In order to verify the feasibility of this strategy, NiO/γ-Al2O3 was respectively supported on ceramic honeycomb, metal foam, and metal wire mesh to produce three monolithic catalysts with different outer surface areas. Their catalytic performance for cattle manure pyrolysis was tested and the result revealed that compared with the granular NiO/γ-Al2O3, using monolithic catalysts with ceramic honeycomb, metal foam, and metal wire mesh carrier respectively increased the gas production by 37%, 33%, and 11%. The use of monolithic catalyst in in-situ catalytic biomass pyrolysis, not only simplified the separation process of catalyst and char, but also enhanced the catalysis performance.