Traditional biomass pyrolysis technology suffers from problems such as difficult tar degradation, low quality of pyrolysis gas and severe pollution during activated carbon preparation. This paper innovatively proposes an ex-situ catalysis and circulating self-activation of pyrolysis gas coupled technology for co-production of biomass gas and carbon. Using giant reed as raw material, nickel-copper bimetallic catalyst is adopted to crack tar and upgrade pyrolysis gas, and the upgraded self-produced pyrolysis gas is used as the activation medium to prepare activated carbon. After optimizing the Ni−Cu/CaO catalyst and reaction parameters through experiments, the performance of products is greatly improved compared with the blank group. The volume fraction of hydrogen in pyrolysis gas increases from 3.9% to 36.5%, an increase of nearly 9 times. The as-prepared activated carbon possesses a specific surface area of 861.38 m²/g and a specific capacitance of 150 F/g at the current density of 0.5 A/g, with its pore structure and electrochemical properties significantly enhanced. This process requires no additional chemical reagents throughout the whole process. The high-value utilization of all biomass components is realized via the synergy of multiple reactions, which provides a new idea for the development of green technology for co-production of gas and carbon.

Catalytic Cracking, Pyrolysis Gas Upgrading, Self-activation, Activated Carbon, Co-production of Biomass Gas and Carbon