Synergistic effect of volatile inherent minerals on catalytic pyrolysis of wheat straw over a Fe–Ca–Ni catalyst

This work aimed to investigate effects of volatile inherent minerals on catalytic pyrolysis of wheat straw over a Fe–Ca–Ni catalyst. The wheat straw was pretreated by HNO3 (0.2 mol/L), And the internal structure of biomass does not change. Pickling mainly removes the metal species inherent in biomass. The experiment results indicated that inherent minerals and the Fe–Ca–Ni catalyst have a synergistic catalytic effect. The gas yields of gas and H2 under the 5 Fe 1.5 Ca-HC catalyst were 55.97% and 250.61 mL/g, respectively. Meanwhile, the gas production content is 42.32%, H2 yield reached 312.79 mL/g in the presence of 5 Fe 1.5 Ca 0.8 Ni-HC catalyst. Characterization results revealed that the inherent mineral promotes the reduction of Fe2O3 and NiO species also the dispersion of Fe2O3 phase. The metallic form of iron and nickel instead of oxide is considered to be active sites for volatiles reforming during biomass pyrolysis. The volatile minerals play a synergistic catalytic and dispersant role during the catalytic pyrolysis reaction with Fe–Ca–Ni-char catalyst.