The Effect of HNO3 and/or NaOH Treatments on Characteristics of Mordenite

Abstract

Modification of mordenite had been performed by HNO3 and/or NaOH treatments and used as a catalyst in the hydrotreating of pyrolyzed α-cellulose. The Si/Al ratio of mordenites was analyzed by Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP), the acidity was gravimetrically determined using ammonium vapor adsorption, the crystallinity was identified by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and pore characters of mordenites (BHM, BAM0.1, and BAM0.5) were analyzed using Gas Sorption Analyzed (GSA). Catalytic activity and selectivity of the mordenites were evaluated in the hydrotreating of pyrolyzed α-cellulose under 20 mL minute−1 H2 gas flow at 450 °C for 2 h with the weight ratio of catalyst:feed was 1:60. The liquid products were analyzed using Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometer (GC–MS). The acidity of mordenites decreased along with the increase of Si/Al rasio, except for the AM0.1 mordenite. The average pore diameter of BHM, BAM0.1 and BAM0.5 was 2.96; 3.34 and 4.53 nm, respectively. The BAM0.1 showed the highest catalytic activity in producing liquid fraction (64.04 wt%). The BAM0.5 showed the highest catalytic selectivity towards biofuels, i.e. 1-pentene 0.44 (wt%); 2-heptyne 2.75 (wt%) and 1-propanol 3.05 (wt%) from the hydrotreating process of pyrolyzed α-cellulose.