Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometric Quantitative Determination of Product Distribution of Paper Pyrolysis with Solid Acids at Low Temperature

Abstract

Paper was pyrolyzed at low temperature (300 "C) both in the absence and presence of catalysts. The liquid products were collected and characterized by using GC/MS. Boric acid and aluminum sulphate acting as catalysts were found to alter the relative concentration and nature of the product due to depolymerizing, polarizing and free radical stabilizing properties. Boric acid was found to decrease the amount of anhydrosugars and favors the formation of esters, ketones and carboxylic acids. Aluminum sulphate favored the formation of furan carboxaldehyde, phenols and other cyclic compounds. The cracking of paper and formation of new compounds was facilitated by vacant orbital of the catalyst. Therefore change in concentration of catalyst also changed the nature and concentration of rite products. These observations are explained on the basis of the chemical nature of these compounds in this paper.