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Catalytic Polymer Pyrolysis and Co-Pyrolysis and Characterisation of the Formed Coke

Ishaka, Mohammed; (2019) Catalytic Polymer Pyrolysis and Co-Pyrolysis and Characterisation of the Formed Coke. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London). Green open access

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Abstract

The increasing energy demand coupled with the restrictive environmental policies and decreasing reserves of light fossil fuels are contributing to the development of new alternative routes for a sustainable supply of refining and petrochemical products. The co-feeding of polymer and biomass into a petroleum refinery processing could decrease our dependence on petroleum feedstocks. In contrast to petroleum-derived feedstocks, biomass contains significant amounts of oxygen, and their conversion into liquid fuels requires oxygen removal. The direct feeding of biomass or biomass derived bio-oil in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) requires critical feasibility studies to ascertain it is workability. The use of biomass and plastic waste in a petroleum refinery is to utilise the already built and existing infrastructure for fuels and chemical production which require little capital cost investment. // Coke deposition has attracted great interest in the studies of bio-oil cracking. In catalytic cracking, a significant portion of the feedstock is converted to a carbonaceous deposit on the catalyst. It was necessary to characterise the nature of this process because of it is commercial importance. In industrial operation, carbonaceous have long been recognised as the most prevailing reason for practical zeolite catalyst deactivation leading to significant problems of great technical, economic, and environmental concerns. The coke formation reduced the number of catalytically active sites on the catalyst leading to a decrease in catalyst cavity volume and available surface area resulting in a change in the selectivity and activity of the catalyst. In a severe coking process, the reaction is interrupted with the mass transportation of reactant and product generation undesirably blocked. Coke formation in co-processing of hydrocarbons and oxygenates are generated either through oxygenate pathway or hydrocarbon pathway. // Microbalance technology based on GaPO4 crystals has shown to be effective for high-temperature operation. This result suggests that the GCM can be utilised as a highly sensitive, low-cost sensor and microscale technology to study heterogeneous catalytic process at high temperatures, as well as an in- situ device for incorporation into reactors for control and monitoring purposes. This technology would allow to measure easily and effectively the working status of catalyst and to respond instantaneously to irregularities during the chemical process such as catalyst deactivation and coking processes.

Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Qualification: Ph.D
Title: Catalytic Polymer Pyrolysis and Co-Pyrolysis and Characterisation of the Formed Coke
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © The Author 2019. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Chemical Engineering
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10081197
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