Biomass is a promising feedstock for the production of renewable fuels. The hydrolysis of oil-containing crops converts triglycerides into fatty acids, which can then be upgraded to produce hydrocarbons, a direct replacement for petroleum-derived liquid fuels. In this paper, we report results for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of palmitic acid in high-temperature water using nanostructured molybdenum carbide catalysts. Molybdenum carbide exhibits high activity and selectivity towards HDO of fatty acids in aqueous conditions, unlike Pt/C and Pd/C catalysts, which have high selectivity towards decarboxylation. Effects of the reaction conditions including temperature, pressure and reactor headspace were studied, and different polymorphs of the molybdenum carbide were evaluated. Higher temperatures and lower pressures were found to increase both conversion of palmitic acid and yield of hexadecane. The different polymorphs of the molybdenum carbide catalyst exhibited different behavior in terms of activity, selectivity and stability. The main catalyst deactivation mechanism observed was catalyst oxidation.

Hydrodeoxygenation of palmitic acid using molybdenum carbide catalysts in high-temperature water

245th National Meeting (2013)

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