The production of renewable transportation fuels from biomass has received increasing interest from governments, industry and the scientific community because of the potential for decreased carbon emissions compared to fossil fuels, the development of local agricultural economies and better control of national energy security. Fast pyrolysis is an attractive technology for converting biomass to hydrocarbon fuels because it can produce up to 75 wt% carbonaceous oil, called bio-oil, which with upgrading can be used as a fuel blending material or a feedstock for further processing. Bio-oil that has not been upgraded has limited applications because of the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups (organic acids, aldehydes, ketones, phenolics) derived from cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin, which give rise to high acidity, high viscosity, low heating value, immiscibility with hydrocarbons and aging during storage. The quality of bio-oil can be improved by removing oxygen from the bio-oil. This can be achieved through catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of biomass, a process where the biomass pyrolysis vapors are passed over catalysts at elevated temperature and near-ambient pressure before condensation. Microporous materials, HZSM-5 in particular are used for upgrading biomass pyrolysis vapors to produce hydrocarbons. However, the yields of hydrocarbons are low due to high CO and CO<sub>2</sub> gas production and coke deposits on the catalyst, which results in rapid catalyst deactivation. The goal is to increase bio-oil yield by decreasing coke and light gas formation, while maintaining low oxygen content. In this study we will report results from studies conducted with transition metal catalysts and compare them those from HZSM-5. The effect of catalyst on product yields, product composition, deactivation and reactivation will be discussed.

Biomass vapor upgrading to produce hydrocarbon fuels

253rd National Meeting (2017)

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