Fast pyrolysis is a thermochemical approach for biomass liquefaction in which biomass is heated without oxygen to produce pyrolysis gas and char. The majority of the pyrolysis gas can be condensed to bio-oil and it can be further upgraded to hydrocarbon fuels. Bio-oil corrosiveness and reactive instability pose significant barriers to the adoption of pyrolysis systems. Catalytic stabilization is needed to produce an energy dense fuel intermediate that is compatible with common infrastructure materials such as carbon steel. Current stabilization approaches face high cost, catalyst deactivation and severe loss of carbon into the gas phase. In this context, electrocatalytic hydrogenation (ECH) is proposed to stabilize bio-oil with in situ atomic hydrogen created by reducing protons in the electrolyte solution. Instead of fossil-based electricity, solar or wind energy can be employed to supply the reducing equivalents, thus the intermittent electricity can be stored as hydrocarbon fuels. Energy contents of the liquid products are enhanced by addition of solar or wind reducing equivalents. Moreover, this method allows bio-oil stabilization at very mild conditions (25-100�C, 1atm), with great potential to reduce catalyst deactivation and carbon loss. Water-soluble bio-oil was hydrogenated with ECH under room temperature and ambient pressure using ruthenium supported on activated carbon cloth. After ECH, most of the aldehydes and ketones were hydrogenated to the corresponding alcohols or diols, which were thermochemically more stable. Bio-oil stability was improved after ECH, as examined by an accelerated aging test. Valuable products, such as hydrogen and diols, were also recovered during the ECH of bio-oil. The energy efficiency of ECH can be optimized by improving cell design, modifying the catalyst and altering reaction conditions.

Electrocatalytic stabilization and upgrading of bio-oil using ruthenium supported on activated carbon cloth at mild conditions

246th National Meeting (2013)

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