Diffusion of Biomass Pyrolysis Products in H‑ZSM‑5 by Molecular Dynamics Simulations

Diffusion of biomass pyrolysis vapors and their upgraded products is an essential catalytic property of zeolites during catalytic fast pyrolysis and likely plays a critical role in the selectivity of these catalysts. Characterizing the diffusivities of representative biofuel molecules is critical to understand shape selectivity and interpret product distribution. Yet, experimental measurements on the diffusivities of oxygenated biofuel molecules at pyrolysis temperatures are very limited in the literature. As an alternative approach, we conducted MD simulations to measure the diffusion coefficients of several selected molecules that are representative of biomass pyrolysis vapors, namely water, methanol, glycolaldehyde, and toluene in H-ZSM-5 zeolite. The results show the diffusion coefficients calculated via MD simulations are consistent with available NMR measurements at room temperature. The effect of molecular weight and molecular critical diameter on the diffusivity among the chosen model compounds is also examined. Furthermore, we have characterized the diffusivities of representative biofuel molecules, namely xylene isomers, in H-ZSM-5. Our calculations determined that the ratio of the diffusion coefficients for xylene isomers is <i>p-</i>xylene:<i>o-</i>xylene:<i>m-</i>xylene ≈ 83:3:1 at 700 K. Additionally, our results also demonstrate the different diffusivity between <i>p</i>-xylene and toluene is due to the molecular orientations when the molecules diffuse along the channels in H-ZSM-5 and provide deep insight into the effect of molecular orientation on its diffusivity

Understanding Trends in Autoignition of Biofuels: Homologous Series of Oxygenated C5 Molecules

Oxygenated biofuels provide a renewable, domestic source of energy that can enable adoption of advanced, high-efficiency internal combustion engines, such as those based on homogeneously charged compression ignition (HCCI). Of key importance to such engines is the cetane number (CN) of the fuel, which is determined by the autoignition of the fuel under compression at relatively low temperatures (550–800 K). For the plethora of oxygenated biofuels possible, it is desirable to know the ignition delay times and the CN of these fuels to help guide conversion strategies so as to focus efforts on the most desirable fuels. For alkanes, the chemical pathways leading to radical chain-branching reactions giving rise to low-temperature autoignition are well-known and are highly coincident with the buildup of reactive radicals such as OH. Key in the mechanisms leading to chain branching are the addition of molecular oxygen to alkyl radicals and the rearrangement and dissociation of the resulting peroxy radials. Prediction of the temperature and pressure dependence of reactions that lead to the buildup of reactive radicals requires a detailed understanding of the potential energy surfaces (PESs) of these reactions. In this study, we used quantum mechanical modeling to systematically compare the effects of oxygen functionalities on these PESs and associated kinetics so as to understand how they affect experimental trends in autoignition and CN. The molecules studied here include pentane, pentanol, pentanal, 2-heptanone, methylpentyl ether, methyl hexanoate, and pentyl acetate. All have a saturated five-carbon alkyl chain with an oxygen functional group attached to the terminal carbon atom. The results of our systematic comparison may be summarized as follows: (1) Oxygen functionalities activate C–H bonds by lowering the bond dissociation energy (BDE) relative to alkanes. (2) The R–OO bonds in peroxy radicals adjacent to carbonyl groups are weaker than corresponding alkyl systems, leading to dissociation of ROO^• radicals and reducing reactivity and hence CN. (3) Hydrogen atom transfer in peroxy radicals is important in autoignition, and low barriers for ethers and aldehydes lead to high CN. (4) Peroxy radicals formed from alcohols have low barriers to form aldehydes, which reduce the reactivity of the alkyl radical. These findings for the formation and reaction of alkyl radicals with molecular oxygen explain the trend in CN for these common biofuel functional groups

Furan Production from Glycoaldehyde over HZSM‑5

Catalytic fast pyrolysis of biomass over zeolite catalysts results primarily in aromatic (e.g., benzene, toluene, xylene) and olefin products. However, furans are a higher value intermediate for their ability to be readily transformed into gasoline, diesel, and chemicals. Here we investigate possible mechanisms for the coupling of glycoaldehyde, a common product of cellulose pyrolysis, over HZSM-5 for the formation of furans. Experimental measurements of neat glycoaldehyde over a fixed bed of HZSM-5 confirm furans (e.g., furanone) are products of this reaction at temperatures below 300 °C with several aldol condensation products as coproducts (e.g., benzoquinone). However, under typical catalytic fast pyrolysis conditions (>400 °C), further reactions occur that lead to the usual aromatic product slate. ONIOM calculations were utilized to identify the pathway for glycoaldehyde coupling toward furanone and hydroxyfuranone products with dehydration reactions serving as the rate-determining steps with typical intrinsic reaction barriers of 40 kcal mol^–1. The reaction mechanisms for glycoaldehyde will likely be similar to that of other small oxygenates such as acetaldehyde, lactaldehyde, and hydroxyacetone. This study provides a generalizable mechanism of oxygenate coupling and furan formation over zeolite catalysts

Carbocation Stability in H‑ZSM5 at High Temperature

Zeolites are common catalysts for multiple industrial applications, including alcohol dehydration to produce olefins, and given their commercial importance, reaction mechanisms in zeolites have long been proposed and studied. Some proposed reaction mechanisms for alcohol dehydration exhibit noncyclic carbocation intermediates or transition states that resemble carbocations, and several previous studies suggest that the <i>tert</i>-butyl cation is the only noncyclic cation more stable than the corresponding chemisorbed species with the hydrocarbon bound to the framework oxygen (i.e., an alkoxide). To determine if carbocations can exist at high temperatures in zeolites, where these catalysts are finding new applications for biomass vapor-phase upgrading (∼500 °C), the stability of carbocations and the corresponding alkoxides were calculated with two ONIOM embedding methods (M06-2X/6-311G­(d,p):M06-2X/3-21G) and (PBE-D3/6-311G­(d,p):PBE-D3/3-21G) and plane-wave density functional theory (DFT) using the PBE functional corrected with entropic and Tkatchenko–Scheffler van der Waals corrections. The embedding methods tested are unreliable at finding minima for primary carbocations, and only secondary or higher carbocations can be described with embedding methods consistent with the periodic DFT results. The relative energy between the carbocations and alkoxides differs significantly between the embedding and the periodic DFT methods. The difference is between ∼0.23 and 14.30 kcal/mol depending on the molecule, the model, and the functional chosen for the embedding method. At high temperatures, the pw-DFT calculations predict that the allyl, isopropyl, and <i>sec</i>-butyl cations exhibit negligible populations while acetyl and <i>tert</i>-butyl cations exhibit significant populations (>10%). Moreover, the periodic DFT results indicate that mechanisms including secondary and tertiary carbocations intermediates or carbocations stabilized by adjacent oxygen or double bonds are possible at high temperatures relevant to some industrial uses of zeolite catalysts, although as the minority species in most cases