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Development of Catalysts for the Selective Conversion of Biomass Derived Products to Fuels


EMSL Project ID
47660

Abstract

The large increase in energy demand by emerging economies and the environmental concerns over the use of fossil fuels has led to the focus on renewable energy sources such as biomass. Several thermochemical processes for the conversion of biomass to fuels or chemicals such as fast pyrolysis, liquefaction, gasification or hydrolysis, are being currently investigated 1. These processes share one thing in common, their products need upgrading, either through hydrodeoxygenation or Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which requires the selective C-O bond cleavage. In order to design catalysts for the selective conversion of biomass to fuels, a fundamental understanding of the catalyst structure and its relation to the cleavage of C-O vs. C-C or C-H bonds is crucial. The goal of this research is to combine theoretical and experimental investigation of the catalyst structure (metal type, oxidation state and particle size) and its effect on the selectivity for C-O, C-C and C-H bond cleavage. The fundamental understanding of the catalyst structure effect on reaction mechanism will guide the rational synthesis of catalysts for the selective conversion of biomass to fuels. The focus of the proposed work is catalyst development for lignocellulosic sugars conversion to bio-fuels by aqueous phase reforming/upgrading.

Project Details

Start Date
2012-10-01
End Date
2013-09-30
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Ayman Karim
Institution
Virginia Polytechnic Institute

Team Members

Jianguo Wang
Institution
Zhejiang University of Technology

Yongchun Hong
Institution
University of California, Berkeley

Daniel Perea
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Yeohoon Yoon
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Changjun Liu
Institution
Washington State University

Libor Kovarik
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

He Zhang
Institution
Washington State University

Tamas Varga
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Nitin Agrawal
Institution
George Mason University

Junming Sun
Institution
Washington State University

Mark Bowden
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Vanessa Dagle
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Abhaya Datye
Institution
University of New Mexico

Donghai Mei
Institution
Tiangong University

Ryan Kelly
Institution
Brigham Young University

Frances Skomurski
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Mark Engelhard
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

Douglas Baxter
Institution
Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

David King
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Yong Wang
Institution
Washington State University

Bruce Arey
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Related Publications

Karim A M,Al Hasan N M,Ivanov S A,Siefert S ,Kelly R T,Hallfors N G,Benavidez A D,Kovarik L ,Jenkins A ,Winans R E,Datye A K 2015. "Synthesis of 1 nm Pd Nanoparticles in a Microfluidic Reactor: Insights from in Situ X ray Absorption Fine Structure Spectroscopy and Small-Angle X ray Scattering " Journal of Physical Chemistry C 119(23):13257–13267. 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b01681
Liu C, AM Karim, VMC Lebarbier, D Mei, and Y Wang. 2013. "Vapor phase ketonization of acetic acid on ceria based metal oxides." Topics in Catalysis 56(18-20):1782-1789. doi:10. 1007/s11244-013-0114-2
Sun J, AM Karim, H Zhang, L Kovarik, XS Li, A Hensley, JS McEwen, and Y Wang. 2013. "Carbon-Supported bimetallic Pd-Fe catalysts for vapor-phase hydrodeoxygenation of guaiacol." Journal of Catalysis 306(1):47-57. doi:10. 1016/j. jcat. 2013. 05. 020
Sun J, AM Karim, JE Rainbolt, L Kovarik, Y Shin, and Y Wang. 2015. "Hierarchically structured catalysts for cascade and selective steam reforming/hydrodeoxygenation reactions." Chemical Communications. doi:10.1039/C5CC07244A
Y. Hong, H. Zhang, J. Sun, A.M. Karim, A.J.R. Hensley, M. Gu, M. Engelhard, J-S. McEwen, Y. Wang, ?Synergistic catalysis between Pd and Fe in gas phase hydrodeoxygenation of m-cresol?, ACS Catalysis, 4, 3335?3345 (2014)