Influence of Ni-Loaded Red Brick Powder Catalyst on the Distribution of Pyrolysis Products of Waste Biomass

Red brick powder, as a building material, exists in a great deal of construction waste. Due to its rich pore structure and metallic composition, it has the advantage of developing low-cost catalysts. This research utilized acid and hydrothermal activation of red brick powder and doped ZSM-5 molecular sieve as co-carriers to prepare metal Ni-bearing red brick powder catalysts by impregnation method; And catalytic pyrolysis of biomass was carried out in a fixed bed reactor, explore the optimal preparation conditions of red brick powder based catalysts and the distribution of biomass pyrolysis products by analyzing the product distribution. Research has shown that catalysts prepared by doping red brick powder with molecular sieves have better pyrolysis effects. When the red brick powder is mixed with ZSM-5 molecular sieves in a mass ratio of 3:1 to load nickel metal, the dispersion of nickel metal was improved. The prepared catalyst not only has a large specific surface area (45.8 m2/g) but also exhibits suitable weak acid characteristics. In addition, K, Ca, Na, and Mg in the red brick powder effectively improve the selectivity of the catalyst for H2. These characteristics promote biomass first cracking and secondary cracking reaction,which is conducive to the production of hydrogen-rich gas, and effectively reduce the risk of carbon deposition on the catalyst pores, prolong the service life of the catalyst, and reduce the possibility of deactivation. The catalyst achieved a gas production rate of up to 63.73% during the pyrolysis of corn stover, with a hydrogen production rate of 63.73 mL/g. Compared to the pyrolysis process without a catalyst, the gas production rate was significantly increased by 27.82%. This research results have offered new avenues for the environmentally friendly reuse of waste red brick powder and technical support for the efficient conversion of biomass energy.