title: Hydrodeoxygenation of prairie cordgrass bio-oil over Ni based activated carbon synergistic catalysts combined with different metals.
abstract: Bio-oil can be upgraded through hydrodeoxygenation (HDO). Low-cost and effective catalysts are crucial for the HDO process. In this study, four inexpensive combinations of Ni based activated carbon synergistic catalysts including Ni/AC, Ni-Fe/AC, Ni-Mo/AC and Ni-Cu/AC were evaluated for HDO of prairie cordgrass (PCG) bio-oil. The tests were carried out in the autoclave under mild operating conditions with 500psig of H2 pressure and 350°C temperature. The catalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). The results show that all synergistic catalysts had significant improvements on the physicochemical properties (water content, pH, oxygen content, higher heating value and chemical compositions) of the upgraded PCG bio-oil. The higher heating value of the upgraded bio-oil (ranging from 29.65MJ/kg to 31.61MJ/kg) improved significantly in comparison with the raw bio-oil (11.33MJ/kg), while the oxygen content reduced to only 21.70-25.88% from 68.81% of the raw bio-oil. Compared to raw bio-oil (8.78% hydrocarbons and no alkyl-phenols), the Ni/AC catalysts produced the highest content of gasoline range hydrocarbons (C6-C12) at 32.63% in the upgraded bio-oil, while Ni-Mo/AC generated the upgraded bio-oil with the highest content of gasoline blending alkyl-phenols at 38.41%.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States. Electronic address: shouyun.cheng@sdstate.edu.
authors.forename: Shouyun
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States. Electronic address: Lin.Wei@sdstate.edu.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States.
authors.forename: Xianhui
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Chemical Engineering Department, University of Massachusetts: Amherst, 686 North Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01003, United States.
authors.forename: Ethan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kadis
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States.
authors.forename: Yuhe
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Julson
authors.affiliation: Agricultural & Biosystems Engineering Department, South Dakota State University, 1400 North Campus Drive, Brookings, SD 57007, United States.
authors.forename: Zhengrong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Gu
mesh_terms: D056804:Biofuels / Q000032:analysis*; D001709:Biotechnology; D002244:Carbon; D002384:Catalysis; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D008670:Metals; D009532:Nickel; D010636:Phenols / Q000737:chemistry; D006109:Poaceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D056804:Biofuels; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D008670:Metals; D010636:Phenols; D002244:Carbon; D009532:Nickel