title: Tailoring ZSM-5 Zeolites for the Fast Pyrolysis of Biomass to Aromatic Hydrocarbons.
abstract: The production of aromatic hydrocarbons from cellulose by zeolite-catalyzed fast pyrolysis involves a complex reaction network sensitive to the zeolite structure, crystallinity, elemental composition, porosity, and acidity. The interplay of these parameters under the reaction conditions represents a major roadblock that has hampered significant improvement in catalyst design for over a decade. Here, we studied commercial and laboratory-synthesized ZSM-5 zeolites and combined data from 10 complementary characterization techniques in an attempt to identify parameters common to high-performance catalysts. Crystallinity and framework aluminum site accessibility were found to be critical to achieve high aromatic yields. These findings enabled us to synthesize a ZSM-5 catalyst with enhanced activity, which offers the highest aromatic hydrocarbon yield reported to date.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 2138 Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Hoff
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 2138 Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Gardner
authors.affiliation: Bioeconomy Institute, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 1140E Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
authors.forename: Rajeeva
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6212-6018
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Thilakaratne
authors.affiliation: Bioeconomy Institute, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 1140E Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
authors.forename: Kaige
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Electron Nanoscopy, Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, 2800, Denmark.
authors.forename: Thomas W
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-1861-3054
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.affiliation: Bioeconomy Institute, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 1140E Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA.
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Iowa State University, 617 Bissell Road, 2138 Biorenewables Research Laboratory, Ames, IA, 50011, USA. tesso@iastate.edu.
authors.forename: Jean-Philippe
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9035-634X
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Tessonnier
mesh_terms: D018533:Biomass; D002384:Catalysis; D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic / Q000737:chemistry*; D007700:Kinetics; D017641:Zeolites / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D006841:Hydrocarbons, Aromatic; C570564:ZSM-5 zeolite; D017641:Zeolites
keywords: aluminum; biomass; heterogeneous catalysis; structure-activity relationships; zeolites