Theoretical study on the effect of H2O on the formation mechanism of NOx precursors during indole pyrolysis

  • Ziqi Wang 1 ,
  • Jun Shen , 1 ,
  • Xuesong Liu 1 ,
  • Sha Wang 1 ,
  • Shengxiang Deng 1 ,
  • Hai Zhang 2 ,
  • Yun Guo , 1
Expand
  • 1. School of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Shanghai University of Engineering Science, Shanghai 201620, China
  • 2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China
ffcc1107@126.com
graceguo1980@126.com

Received date: 14 Dec 2023

Accepted date: 29 Jan 2024

Copyright

2024 Higher Education Press

Abstract

The incineration technology of kitchen waste is one of the effective technologies to achieve the resource utilization of municipal solid waste. Pyrolysis is an important stage of incineration. Indole is a rich initial product in the pyrolysis process of kitchen waste, and the presence of H2O has a significant impact on the decomposition of indole to form NOx precursors. Therefore, this study uses density functional theory method to study the effect of H2O on the thermal decomposition of indole to produce NH3, HNCO, and HCN. When H2O participates in the reaction, it can provide oxidative groups to generate a new product HNCO, which is different from the previous findings by indole pyrolysis without the presence of H2O. Meanwhile, this study theoretically proves that NH3 is easier to form than HCN. This is consistent with the phenomenon that NH3 release is higher than HCN release in pyrolysis experiment. In addition, compared with the individual pyrolysis of indole, the participation of H2O reduces the energy barriers for the formation of NH3 and HCN during indole pyrolysis, thereby promoting the formation of NH3 and HCN.

Cite this article

Ziqi Wang , Jun Shen , Xuesong Liu , Sha Wang , Shengxiang Deng , Hai Zhang , Yun Guo . Theoretical study on the effect of H2O on the formation mechanism of NOx precursors during indole pyrolysis[J]. Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering, 2024 , 18(6) : 67 . DOI: 10.1007/s11705-024-2425-1

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52276127 and 51704194) and Youth Scientific Research Team Cultivation Program of Shanghai University of Engineering and Technology (Grant No. QNTD202101).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-024-2425-1 and is accessible for authorized users.
1
Li H , Xu J , Mbugua Nyambura S , Wang J , Li C , Zhu X , Feng X , Wang Y . Food waste pyrolysis by traditional heating and microwave heating: a review. Fuel, 2022, 324: 124574

DOI

2
Zhang R , Zhang M , Mou H , An Z , Fu H , Su X , Chen C , Chen J , Lin H , Sun F . Comparation of mesophilic and thermophilic anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and waste activated sludge driven by biochar derived from kitchen waste. Journal of Cleaner Production, 2023, 408: 137123

DOI

3
Nyambura S M , Jufei W , Hua L , Xuebin F , Xingjia P , Bohong L , Ahmad R , Jialiang X , Bertrand G , Ndiithi J , Xuhui L . Microwave co-pyrolysis of kitchen food waste and rice straw for waste reduction and sustainable biohydrogen production: thermo-kinetic analysis and evolved gas analysis. Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments, 2022, 52: 102072

DOI

4
Elgarahy A M , Eloffy M G , Alengebawy A , El Sherif D , Gaballah M , Elwakeel K , El Qelish M . Sustainable management of food waste; pre-treatment strategies, techno-economic assessment, bibliometric analysis, and potential utilizations: a systematic review. Environmental Research, 2023, 225: 115558

DOI

5
Cai P T , Chen T , Chen B , Wang Y , Ma Z , Yan J . The impact of pollutant emissions from co-incineration of industrial waste in municipal solid waste incinerators. Fuel, 2023, 352: 129027

DOI

6
Liu X , Shen J , Guo Y , Wang S , Chen B , Luo L , Zhang H . Technical progress and perspective on the thermochemical conversion of kitchen waste and relevant applications: a comprehensive review. Fuel, 2023, 331: 125803

DOI

7
Zhang W , Tan H , Chen Y , Yang H , Chen H . Pyrolysis of hydrochar from hydrothermal treatment of kitchen waste: effects of temperature, catalysts, and KOH addition. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2022, 167: 105664

DOI

8
Feng Y , Bu T , Zhang Q , Han M , Tang Z , Yuan G , Chen D , Hu Y . Pyrolysis characteristics of anaerobic digestate from kitchen waste and availability of phosphorus in pyrochar. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2022, 168: 105729

DOI

9
Wang Z , Shen J , Liu X , Guo Y , Wang S , Deng S , Zhang H . A review on nitrogen migration mechanism during the pyrolysis of organic solid waste: DFT, ReaxFF MD and experimental study. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2023, 176: 106250

DOI

10
Zhang J , Tian Y , Cui Y , Zuo W , Tan T . Key intermediates in nitrogen transformation during microwave pyrolysis of sewage sludge: a protein model compound study. Bioresource Technology, 2013, 132: 57–63

DOI

11
Jiang D , Li J , Wang S , Li H , Qian L , Li B , Cheng X , Hu Y , Hu X . Cyclic compound formation mechanisms during pyrolysis of typical aliphatic acidic amino acids. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2020, 8(45): 16968–16978

DOI

12
Ebikade E O , Sadula S , Gupta Y , Vlachos D . A review of thermal and thermocatalytic valorization of food waste. Green Chemistry, 2021, 23(8): 2806–2833

DOI

13
Li K , Zhang L , Zhu L , Zhu X . Comparative study on pyrolysis of lignocellulosic and algal biomass using pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Bioresource Technology, 2017, 234: 48–52

DOI

14
Shen J , Liu X , Wang S , Chen B , Deng X , Qiu X , Wang Z , Zhang H , Guo Y . Theoretical study on nitrogen migration mechanism during the pyrolysis of 2-pyrrolidone. Fuel, 2023, 345: 128260

DOI

15
Qing M , Zheng Y , Liu L , Huang S , Zeng H , Tian H , Xiang J . Experimental and DFT study on the migration and transformation mechanism of nitrogen during the pyrolysis of food waste. Fuel, 2023, 342: 127773

DOI

16
Guo S , Liu T , Hui J , Che D , Li X , Sun B , Li S . Effects of calcium oxide on nitrogen oxide precursor formation during sludge protein pyrolysis. Energy, 2019, 189: 116217

DOI

17
Yamamoto Y , Sato Y , Ebina T , Yokoyama C , Takahasi S , Mito Y , Tanabe H , Nishiguchi N , Nagaoka K . Separation of high purity indole from coal tar by high pressure crystallization. Fuel, 1991, 70(4): 565–566

DOI

18
Shui H , Zhou Y , Li H , Wang Z , Lei Z , Ren S , Pan C , Wang W . Thermal dissolution of Shenfu coal in different solvents. Fuel, 2013, 108: 385–390

DOI

19
Ren Q , Zhao C . NOx and N2O precursors from biomass pyrolysis: nitrogen transformation from amino acid. Environmental Science & Technology, 2012, 46(7): 4236–4240

DOI

20
ZhouXLiuR. A density functional theory study of the pyrolysis mechanisms of indole. Journal of Molecular Structure THEOCHEM, 1999, 461–462: 569–579

21
Lixia L , Zhang R , Wang B , Xie K . Pyrolysis mechanisms of quinoline and isoquinoline with density functional theory. Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering, 2009, 17(5): 805–813

DOI

22
Corval M . An electron impact study of HCN elimination from indole by use of 13C labelling. OMS, Organic Mass Spectrometry, 1981, 16(10): 444–447

DOI

23
Laskin A , Lifshitz A . Isomerization and decomposition of indole. Experimental results and kinetic modeling. Journal of Physical Chemistry A, 1997, 101(42): 7787–7801

DOI

24
Liu J , Zhang X , Hu B , Lu Q , Liu D , Dong C , Yang Y . Formation mechanism of HCN and NH3 during indole pyrolysis: a theoretical DFT study. Journal of the Energy Institute, 2020, 93(2): 649–657

DOI

25
Cheng F , Bayat H , Jena U , Brewer C . Impact of feedstock composition on pyrolysis of low-cost, protein- and lignin-rich biomass: a review. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2020, 147: 104780

DOI

26
Maliutina K , Tahmasebi A , Yu J . The transformation of nitrogen during pressurized entrained-flow pyrolysis of Chlorella vulgaris. Bioresource Technology, 2018, 262: 90–97

DOI

27
Wei Y , Tian H , Liu L , Cheng S , Qing M , Chen Y , Yang H , Yang Y . The effects of alkali metals and alkaline earth metals on the mechanism of N-containing gases production during glutamic acid pyrolysis. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2022, 168: 105787

DOI

28
Park D C , Day S J , Nelson P F . Nitrogen release during reaction of coal char with O2, CO2, and H2O. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2005, 30(2): 2169–2175

DOI

29
Hu E , Zeng X , Ma D , Wang F , Yi X , Li Y , Fu X . Effect of the moisture content in coal on the pyrolysis behavior in an indirectly heated fixed-bed reactor with internals. Energy & Fuels, 2017, 31(2): 1347–1354

DOI

30
Liu J , Lu Q , Jiang X , Hu B , Zhang X , Dong C , Yang Y . Theoretical investigation of the formation mechanism of NH3 and HCN during pyrrole pyrolysis: the effect of H2O. Molecules. Molecules, 2018, 23(4): 711

DOI

31
DenningtonRKeithT AMillamJ M. GaussianView. Version6. Semichem, Inc, Shawnee Mission KS

32
Xu G , Wang H , Yu Y , He H . Role of silver species in H2-NH3-SCR of NOx over Ag/Al2O3 catalysts: operando spectroscopy and DFT calculations. Journal of Catalysis, 2021, 395: 1–9

DOI

33
Zhao D , Liu H , Lu P , Yu H , Qin M . A DFT study of the mechanism of H transfer during steam gasification. Combustion and Flame, 2020, 219: 327–338

DOI

34
Yun H , Kim Y J , Kim S B , Yoon H J , Kwak S K , Lee K B . Preparation of copper-loaded porous carbons through hydrothermal carbonization and ZnCl2 activation and their application to selective CO adsorption: experimental and DFT calculation studies. Journal of Hazardous Materials, 2022, 426: 127816

DOI

35
Liu J , Zhao W , Yang S , Hu B , Xu M , Ma S , Lu Q . Formation mechanism of NOx precursors during the pyrolysis of 2,5-diketopiperazine based on experimental and theoretical study. Science of the Total Environment, 2021, 801: 149663

DOI

36
Liu J , Zhang X , Lu Q , Shaw A , Hu B , Jiang X , Dong C . Mechanism study on the effect of alkali metal ions on the formation of HCN as NOx precursor during coal pyrolysis. Journal of the Energy Institute, 2019, 92(3): 604–612

DOI

37
Liu J , Zhao W , Fan X , Xu M , Zheng S , Lu Q . Effect of alkali metal ions on the formation mechanism of HCN during pyridine pyrolysis. International Journal of Coal Science & Technology, 2021, 8(3): 349–359

DOI

38
Jiang D , Li H , Wang S , Cheng X , Bartocci P , Fantozzi F . Insight the CO2 adsorption onto biomass-pyrolysis derived char via experimental analysis coupled with DFT calculation. Fuel, 2023, 332: 125948

DOI

39
Jiang D , Li H , Cheng X , Ling Q , Barati B , Yao Q , Abomohra A , Hu X , Bartocci P . . A mechanism study of methylene blue adsorption on seaweed biomass derived carbon: from macroscopic to microscopic scale. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 2023, 172: 1132–1143

DOI

40
Jiang D , Li H , Cheng X , Abomohra A , Hu Y , Babadi A , Bartocci P , Hu X , Wang S . Chemical process of multiphase system in lignin-biochar co-pyrolysis for enhanced phenol recovery. Fuel Processing Technology, 2023, 250: 107882

DOI

41
Jiang D , Yuan C , Cheng X , Wang S , Li H , Yang X . Study on the pyrolysis mechanism of unsaturated fatty acid: a combined density functional theory and experimental study. International Journal of Energy Research, 2022, 46(2): 2029–2040

DOI

42
FrischM JTrucksG WSchlegelH BScuseriaG ERobbM ACheesemanJ R. Gaussian 16, Revision A.03. Wallingford CT: Gaussian Inc, 2016

43
Lu T , Chen F . Multiwfn: a multifunctional wavefunction analyzer. Journal of Computational Chemistry, 2012, 33(5): 580–592

DOI

44
Poutsma M L . Free-radical thermolysis and hydrogenolysis of model hydrocarbons relevant to processing of coal. Energy & Fuels, 1990, 4(2): 113–131

DOI

45
Vernon L W . Free radical chemistry of coal liquefaction: role of molecular hydrogen. Fuel, 1980, 59(2): 102–106

DOI

46
WangZShenJLiuXGuoYWangSDengSWuTZhangH. Theoretical study on the formation mechanism of NOx precursors during the pyrolysis of 2,4-imidazolinediketone. Combustion Science and Technology, Taylor & Francis, 2023, 1–19

47
Wehrli B , Stumm W . Vanadyl in natural waters: adsorption and hydrolysis promote oxygenation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1989, 53(1): 69–77

DOI

48
Jiang D , Wang S , Li H , Xu L , Hu X , Barati B , Zheng A . Insight into the mechanism of glycerol dehydration and subsequent pyridine synthesis. ACS Sustainable Chemistry & Engineering, 2021, 9(8): 3095–3103

DOI

49
Zhu X , Yang S , Wang L , Liu L , Qian F , Yao W , Zhang S , Chen J . Tracking the conversion of nitrogen during pyrolysis of antibiotic mycelial fermentation residues using XPS and TG-FTIR-MS technology. Environmental Pollution, 2016, 211: 20–27

DOI

50
Meng J , Wang J , Yang F , Cheng F . Unveiling the complex effect of Fe2O3 on NOx precursors evolution mechanism during sludge protein pyrolysis based on product characteristics. Fuel, 2024, 358: 130105

DOI

51
Liu X , Shen J , Deng S , Wang S , Chen B , Wang Z , Zhang H , Guo Y . Unveiling the role of sodium ion in the conversion of amino acid intermediates and the formation mechanism of NOx precursors during kitchen waste pyrolysis. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 2023, 173: 106085

DOI

52
Tian F J , Yu J , McKenzie L J , Hayashi J , Li C . Conversion of fuel-N into HCN and NH3 during the pyrolysis and gasification in steam: a comparative study of coal and biomass. Energy & Fuels, 2007, 21(2): 517–521

DOI

53
Ren Q , Zhao C , Chen X , Duan L , Li Y , Ma C . NOx and N2O precursors (NH3 and HCN) from biomass pyrolysis: Co-pyrolysis of amino acids and cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin. Proceedings of the Combustion Institute, 2011, 33(2): 1715–1722

DOI

54
Jiang J , Wang Q , Wang Y , Tong W , Xiao B , Xiao B . GC/MS analysis of coal tar composition produced from coal pyrolysis. Bulletin of the Chemical Society of Ethiopia, 2007, 21(2): 229–240

DOI

Outlines

/