Selective low-temperature pyrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose to produce levoglucosan and levoglucosenone in a fixed bed reactor

Selective low-temperature pyrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose was carried out to produce levoglucosan (LG) and levoglucosenone (LGO) using a fixed bed reactor. The effects of temperature, self-produced bio-char, different catalysts and catalytic pattern on product's yields and selectivities were studied. The results showed the self-catalysis of bio-char increased LGO yield from 0.14wt% to 1.35wt% by increasing almost 10 times with reaction feedstock mass increasing 3 times. The maximum LGO selectivity of 77.67% was obtained with H3PO4 catalysts at 270°C. Through comparing different catalysts including H3PO4, H2SO4, Fe2(SO4)3 and FePO4, the highest LGO yield of 2.65wt% was obtained with Fe2(SO4)3. Acid catalysts can obviously increase LGO selectivity and in-situ pattern performed better than ex-situ pattern during the pyrolysis for LGO. Finally, the mechanism with bio-char effect for producing LGO and LG from selective pyrolysis of microcrystalline cellulose was proposed. •LG and LGO were produced by cellulose selective pyrolysis in a fixed bed reactor.•Self-produced bio-char increased LG and especially LGO yields significantly.•The maximum LGO selectivity of 77.67% was obtained with H3PO4.•The highest LGO yield of 2.65wt% was obtained with Fe2(SO4)3.•The catalytic reaction pathway for producing LGO and LG was proposed.