Catalytic pyrolysis of rice husk to selectively produce furfural over zeolite beta with post aluminum impregnation

Abstract

AbstractIn the present work, three zeolite‐beta based catalysts with post impregnation of aluminum are evaluated for conversion of rice husk to furfural at atmospheric pressure in the presence of sodium chloride as promoter. The synthesized catalysts were characterized by nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherm, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and pyridine Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The activity of in house synthesized/modified catalysts is studied at preliminary optimized reaction conditions of 375°C and 47 min with variation in feed/catalyst/promoter ratio. Purity and yield of furfural was obtained by gas chromatography analysis with flame ionization detector in a batch reactor. Results shows that zeolite beta with 5 wt % post aluminum impregnation gave highest yield of bio‐oil (60.3 wt%) with 88% selectivity toward furfural in the presence of sodium chloride (5 wt% of feed) and sulfuric acid (10 wt% of feed).