Sugarcane has been placed in the center of the food-energy-water nexus owing to its suitability as a feedstock for biofuel production. Sugarcane bagasse, once a “worthless” residue, now is attracting research efforts to maximize its utilization in the biorefinery, rather than simply burn to generate power. We have been investigating the pyrolysis of the sugarcane bagasse to produce bio-oils as a potential fuel precursor. The bio-oils have very challenging properties as a fuel precursor, including high oxygen content, high acidity, and high viscosity. In this study, we upgrade the bio-oils derived from sugarcane bagasse in supercritical alcohol using transition metal catalysts. <sup>1</sup>H, <sup>31</sup>P, HSQC NMR, GC-MS are exploited to provide a deep insight of the structures in the bio-oils. The mechanism and reaction pathways of the catalytic upgrading will also be discussed.

Catalytic upgrading of bio-oils derived from agricultural crop residue: A study of application and mechanism

255th National Meeting (2018)

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