Biomass

Biography

Biography: Joseph Wood

Abstract

With depleting oil reserves and increased worldwide demand for transportation fuels and chemicals, the need for an alternative fuel source is becoming increasingly apparent. Bio-oil is produced through fast pyrolysis or hydrothermal liquefaction routes1, 2. But the produced bio-oil has a high oxygen content, leading to a low heating value and lower stability over time. Hence methods to upgrade bio-oil to make it more closely resemble crude oil are urgently sought. Catalytic hydrotreatment is as one of the most promising technologies for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) biofuel upgrading. In the current study, HTL bio-oil produced from a chlorella microalgae slurry in a continuous flow reactor was hydrotreated with bio-Pd/C. Bio-Pd-C uses metallic NP-decorated whole bacterial cells as chemical catalysts. The activity of the Bio-Pd/C catalyst was evaluated against commercial Pd/C. The upgrading potential of the bio-Pd/C was investigated under three variables; time, temperature and oil to catalyst ratio in a stirred reactor. Both catalysts Pd/C and bio-Pd/C showed similar activity under similar upgrading condition. Oxygen and nitrogen content were reduced by 65% and 35%, respectively, at 325°C in 4 h reaction time and bio-oil to catalyst ratio of 20. Further analysis of upgraded oil by GC-MS, Sim-Dist, and elemental analysis attributed to improvement in the fuel properties of bio-oil. Catalyst analysis with ICP-MS, TGA and elemental analyzer attributed that the biomass from bio-Pd/C contributed to bio-oil yield. 1. Xiu, S, Shahbazi, A., Renew. Sustain. Energy Reviews 2012, 16, 4406. 2. Mortensen, P.M. et al., Appl. Catal. A: Gen 2011, 407, 1.