Catalytic fast pyrolysis of corn cob in ammonia with Ga/HZSM-5 catalyst for selective production of acetonitrile.

In this work, corn cob was used as raw material to selectively produce acetonitrile via catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) in ammonia over Ga/HZSM-5 catalyst. A series of catalysts with different catalyst carriers (including HZSM-5, USY, MCM-41, HY, and γ-AlO) and active metals (including Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cr, Ca, Mg and Ga) were prepared and screened. The reaction conditions, such as temperature, ammonia flow rate and residence time were changed to investigate the effect on the product distribution and acetonitrile production. The results indicated that with the desired catalyst (2% Ga/HZSM-5) and optimal reaction conditions (Temperature 700 °C; ammonia flow rate 80 ml/min; residence time 2.4 s), the highest carbon yield of acetonitrile from corn cob with a value of 18.4% could be obtained, and the carbon selectivity in bio-oil was 83.5%. This study provides an economical and environmental-friendly method for the direct production of acetonitrile from abundant biomass.