Production of liquid bio-fuel from catalytic de-oxygenation:Pyrolysis of beech wood and flax shives

This study presents a detailed analysis of the catalytic de-oxygenation of the liquid and gaseous pyrolytic products of two biomasses (beech wood and flax shives) using different catalysts (commercial HZSM-5 and H-Y,and lab-synthesised Fe-HZSM-5,Fe-H-Y,Pt/Al2O3 and CoMo/Al2O3). The experiments were all conducted in a semi-batch reactor under the same operating conditions for all feed materials. BET specific surface area,BJH pore size distribution and FT-IR technologies have been used to characterise the catalysts,while gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS),flame ionisation detection (GC-FID) and thermal conductivity detection (GC-TCD) were used to examine the liquid and gaseous pyrolytic products. It was firstly seen that at higher catalyst-to-biomass ratios of 4∶1,de-oxygenation efficiency did not experience any further significant improvement. FeHZSM-5 was deemed to be the most efficient of the catalysts utilised as it helped reach the lowest oxygen contents in the bio-oils samples and the second best was HZSM-5. It was also found that HZSM-5 and H-Y tended to privilege the decarbonylation route(production of CO),whilst their iron-modified counterparts favoured the decarboxylation one (production of CO2) for both biomasses studied. It was then seen that the major bio-oil components (carboxylic acids) underwent almost complete conversion under catalytic treatment to produce mostly unoxygenated aromatic compounds,phenols and gases like CO and CO2. Finally,phenols were seen to be the family most significantly formed from the actions of all catalysts.

Investigation on the photo-induced de-oxygenation process of myoglobin in aqueous solution by use of fluorescence spectroscopy

A photo-induced de-oxygenation process of myoglobin (Mb) in aqueous solution was investigated by use of fluorescence spectroscopy. The spectra are characterized by the fluorescence intensity declining gradually after each scan,and the decay of fluorescence intensity being significant in each scan,which is assigned to the release of oxygen from the opening of the heme-pockets induced by illumination. More illumination will cause more release of oxygen; if the temperature of an Mb solution is increased when it is illuminated,the rate of de-oxygenation will be higher. It was found that ligand-oxygen in Fe-porphyrin could be removed from Mb by nitrogen. This indicates that the interac-tion between oxy-Mb and other different gases can be tested by the method of fluorescence spectros-copy. In addition,fluorescence spectroscopy can be employed to probe the energy transfer between Fe-porphyrin and tryptophan or tyrosine in Mb molecules.