Direct thermocatalytic transformation of pine wood into low oxygenated biofuel

Abstract

Direct catalytic conversion of pine wood under H₂ into an organic liquid composed of saturated alkanes and aromatics has been achieved. The resulting organic liquids are easily isolated from the aqueous phase with a yield up to 30 wt%. Importantly, the oxygen content is about 3 wt% and has a higher heating value of 41 MJ kg⁻¹ which is very close to standard diesel (44 MJ kg⁻¹) used in automotive fuels. The multi-functional catalysts comprise well size controlled bimetallic nanoparticles (Cu–Ru) supported on heteropolyacid salts. The residual acidic proton of the heteropolyanion salt combined with bimetallic nanoparticles produced a multifunctional catalyst, featuring depolymerisation, deoxygenation and hydrogenation in a single batch reactor. Current results present an alternative approach to transform lignocellulosic biomass (oxygen content higher than 40 wt%) directly into an organic liquid (oxygen content less than 5 wt%) suitable as additives in biofuels.