Conversion of Guaiacol over Supported Ru Catalysts
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Conversion of Guaiacol over Supported Ru Catalysts Sunya Boonyasuwat • Taiwo Omotoso • Daniel E. Resasco • Steven P. Crossley
Received: 6 December 2012 / Accepted: 28 May 2013 / Published online: 13 June 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013
Abstract The vapor phase conversion of guaiacol over Ru catalysts supported on C, SiO2, Al2O3, and TiO2 at 400 °C in flowing atmospheric hydrogen is reported. Results indicate a strong synergy between Ru and TiO2 when compared with other catalysts studied as evidenced by enhanced activity for deoxygenation, transalkylation, and decreased deactivation rates. These results are attributed to the enhanced activity of the support brought about by the ability of Ru to reduce TiO2 and create highly active sites for the conversion of guaiacol. Keywords
Biomass conversion Ruthenium Titania
1 Introduction Among the upgrading techniques being explored for the production of transportation fuels from biomass, fast pyrolysis coupled with catalytic upgrading of the resulting product shows great potential to produce a cost-effective solution for the partial displacement of fossil resources [1, 2]. Fast pyrolysis has been shown to be two-to-three times less expensive than competing technologies based on gasification or fermentation processes [3].
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10562-013-1033-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. S. Boonyasuwat T. Omotoso D. E. Resasco S. P. Crossley (&) School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA e-mail: [email protected]
The greatest drawback of fast pyrolysis is the necessary upgrading of the liquid product before it can be either used as a fungible transportation fuel or incorporated in a refinery. Pyrolysis oil contains a wide range of highly oxygenated compounds. Over 400 species that result from the thermal degradation of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin fractions have been identified in the oil [4, 5]. This complex composition results in low energy density and poses a challenge in the subsequent upgrading [6–8]. It is well known that pyrolysis oils degrade over time. The chemical species originally present in the pyrolysis vapors are not the same as those found in the liquid product after the vapors condense and react over time. The molecules present in pyrolysis oil are not stable, and continually undergo condensation reactions, wasting valuable carbon that could be converted to transportation fuels in the process. Therefore, contacting the pyrolysis vapors with a catalyst prior to condensation can be a valuable first step towards a stable intermediate product that can then be transported and further upgraded in conventional refinery operations. Hydrodeoxygenation over metal catalysts is an upgrading route that has received considerable attention. The use of metal catalysts at high H2/feed ratios has many positive aspects over conventional acid or metal oxide catalysts,
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