Catalytic Cracking of Pyrolysis Oil Derived from Rubberwood to Produce Green Gasoline Components

An attempt was made to generate gasoline-range aromatics from pyrolysis oil derived from rubberwood. Catalytic cracking of the pyrolysis oil was conducted using an HZSM-5 catalyst in a dual reactor. The effects of reaction temperature, catalyst weight, and nitrogen flow rate were investigated to determine the yield of organic liquid product (OLP) and the percentage of gasoline aromatics in the OLP. The results showed that the maximum OLP yield was about 13.6 wt%, which was achieved at 511 degrees C, a catalyst weight of 3.2 g, and an N-2 flow rate of 3 mL/min. The maximum percentage of gasoline aromatics was about 27 wt%, which was obtained at 595 degrees C, a catalyst weight of 5 g, and an N-2 flow rate of 3 mL/min. Although the yield of gasoline aromatics was low, the expected components were detected in the OLP, including benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, and xylenes (BTEX). These findings demonstrated that green gasoline aromatics can be produced from rubberwood pyrolysis oil via zeolite cracking.