Kei Mizuta

Feasibility of zeolites in converting butyric acid into propylene for biorefineries

ABSTRACT The biorefinery has been recognized as a new industry to produce both energy and chemical materials such as olefins and BTX from renewable resources. In this context the conversion of butyric acid over zeolites was investigated for establishing a new production route of propylene. Propylene was mainly generated by decarbonylation and dehydration of butyric acid. Our study proved that H-ZSM-5 (750) and silicalite were the best industrial catalyst among the tested ones. For H-ZSM-5 (750), the selectivity of propylene reached 64.2 C% and the ratio of the yield for propylene to theoretical yield (75 C%) became 85.6%.

Conversion of Biomass-Derived Oxygen-Containing Intermediates into Chemical Raw Materials with Zeolite

To establish a new production route of biomass-derived BTX and propylene, the catalytic conversion of oxygen-containing intermediates which are furfural, levulinic acid, acetic acid or butyric acid, obtained by hydrothermal reactions of bagasse or fermentation of molasses was investigated with zeolites, ZSM-5, SAPO-11 and SAPO-34. Levulinic acid and acetic acid were suitable for generating BTX with ZSM-5. On the other hand, the butyric acid was valuable for converting to chemical raw materials with ZSM-5. By using SAPO-11 as the catalyst, butyric acid converted to propylene at high yields. The yield for propylene was the maximum value 58.8C% at 723K, especially the ratio of propylene to gaseous hydrocarbon products increased up to 90.4C%.

Conversion of jatropha oil into lower olefins over zeolite catalysts in the presence of water

ABSTRACT A simple method, supplying water with Jatropha oil, was proposed to enhance the conversion of selectivity of lower olefins over zeolite catalysts, H-ZSM-5 and SAPO-11. The yield of lower olefins was as high as 54 C mol%, and the selectivity for lower olefins reached 58 C mol%. The optimum condition on catalytic conversion of jatropha oil was 600 °C of reaction temperature, 3.0 s of contact time and 0.7 of water fraction with SAPO-11. The presence of water effectively suppressed the progress of Diels-Alder and hydrogen transfer reaction probably due to the reduced number of acid sites.