Characterization of the bio-oil hydrotreating catalysts
EMSL Project ID
48018
Abstract
PNNL is working on an EERE international collaboration project to exchange scientific and technical information on biomass feedstock production and conversion to biofuels with China and additionally support the US-China Renewable Energy Partnership. The objective of this project through the U.S.-China interaction is to evaluate and develop a commercially viable process in thermochemical conversion of biomass to fuels and, specifically, to develop breakthrough technologies that will make game-changing impact in the thermochemical conversion of biomass to fuels.
The current research (FY12-14) is focused on the catalytic hydrotreating of the pyrolysis bio-oil from biomass. Hydrotreating of pyrolysis bio-oil is the bottleneck of the pyrolysis-hydrotreating biomass conversion process because of the poor quality of pyrolysis bio-oil and therefore robust and optimal bio-oil hydrotreating catalysts have been identified as a key challenge for the thermochemical conversion platform. A two-stage hydrotreating process, including a hydrogenation step using supported precious metal catalyst at low temperatures to stabilize bio-oils and a hydrocracking step using a supported CoMo sulfide catalyst at a more severe condition to achieve deep oxygen removal, is developed by PNNL and represents the state of the art technology in bio-oil upgrading. The deactivation of the catalysts, however, still remains a big challenge and there is lack of knowledge on the critical aspects that impact the stability of the hydrotreating catalysts. We are addressing this important issue by fundamental understanding of the deactivation mechanism, the regeneration process of the deactivated catalysts, and the function requirement for catalyst with improved stability.
The detailed characterization of catalysts and the reactants and products is critical to understanding a reaction mechanism, catalysts properties, and catalyst deactivation mode. Characterizations will use typical analytical tools such as, but not limited to: XRD, high resolution TEM, XPS, vibration spectroscopies, and NMR in order to understand the phase, molecular and atomic structure of the catalyst, reactants, and products. We propose to leverage the characterization capabilities that already exist in PNNL’s Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory (EMSL) user facility for these research and development efforts.
Project Details
Start Date
2013-03-28
End Date
2014-04-06
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members