Catalysts for slurry-phase hydrotreating of bio-oil

Abstract

The European Green Deal, a policy initiative set by the European Commission, aims to reduce greenhouse gas (GhG) emissions, and ultimately achieve an economy with net-zero GhG emissions by 2050. Achieving these targets requires development of new and novel technologies in the field of green chemistry. The focus in this work was evaluating the feasibility of using unsupported catalysts for hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of lignocellulosic bio-oil. In the literature study, unsupported MoS2 was identified as a promising catalyst candidate for HDO of lignocellulosic bio-oil. Unsupported (Co)-MoS2 catalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal synthesis and by thermal synthesis of emulsion liquid precursors. Activated carbon (AC) supported Mo and CoMo catalysts were synthesized as reference catalysts. The catalysts were characterized by numerous methods and their performance was compared to commercial supported hydrotreating catalysts in HDO of isoeugenol. Commercial Ru/C and NiMo/Al2O3 catalysts yielded high selectivity to propylcyclohexane. Clear differences in performance were observed for the unsupported catalysts, while the performance of both unsupported and carbon supported catalysts was enhanced by the introduction of Co as a promoter, yielding higher selectivity to deoxygenated compounds.