This thesis studied the catalytic upgrading of pyrolysis oil derived from both ethanol organosolv (EOL) lignin and whole biomass. There are four major components of this thesis. In the first part, several lignin model compounds and the commonly used noble metal catalysts were evaluated. During the reaction, coke formation deactivated several catalysts. The reaction pathway of the coke formation was proposed. Ruthenium/activated carbon can hydrogenate the aromatic ring and remove the methoxyl group as well due to its unique catalytic behavior. The reaction mechanism was deduced based on the products distribution of the model compounds. The second part of this study focuses on the catalytic HDO reaction with real EOL pyrolysis oil. The results indicate the reaction mechanism with EOL pyrolysis oil is similar to the results of the model compound study. Due to the deactivation of the Ru/C catalyst by tar produced during the upgrading, two-step hydrodeoxygenation at different temperature was adopted in this study. The second part mainly discussed the first-step HDO reaction. The upgraded pyrolysis oil was analyzed using GC-MS, ¹H, ¹³C, and HSQC ²D NMR. The chemical structure change after the first-step upgrading and the cleavage of the inter-linkages were included. The third part focuses on the product analysis after the second-step HDO. All the products were completely hydrogenated. The molecular weight of the upgraded oil is in the monomer range and the GC-MS study provided detailed compound structures. However, some of them still contain oxygen atoms. To produce completely deoxygenated products, alkali treated ZSM-5 was used as a supporting material and it was effective in catalyzing the dehydration reaction and producing deoxygenated compounds. In the fourth part, light oil derived from whole biomass also underwent treatment under the same HDO reaction conditions as those used in upgrading EOL pyrolysis oil. In this reaction, the biomass were separated into three components: stem, residue and bark. The compound structures of the three different types of light oil were analyzed by GC, ¹H and ¹H-¹³C HSQC-NMR. Then the light oil was processed under the same condition as the heavy oil upgrading. The reaction mechanisms with cellulose and hemicellulose were also studied. These results will be of value in developing of complete hydrogenation of whole biomass pyrolysis oils.

This study investigated the conversion of monomeric lignin fragments into cyclohexanols for use as a source of lignin-derived monomers for renewable Nylon 6 production. Lignin-derived monomeric phenolic species was transformed to their cyclohexanol analogs via selective catalytic hydrogenation. A fixed-bed flow reactor was used to evaluate the selective hydrogenation of individual model phenolic species (guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol or diphenyl ether). The catalyst composition studied was Ni/SiO₂, which was previously shown to form cyclohexanol as an intermediate from phenol. A primary focus was on tuning the reaction conditions to form desired products, while avoiding the formation of bicyclic species which can be precursors to catalyst deactivation, or fully hydrogenated products of lower value. Reaction pathways of guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol and diphenyl ether were studied. Major products obtained from guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol and diphenyl ether reactions were 2-methoxycyclohexanone, 4-methylcyclohexanol and cyclohexanol, respectively. Spent catalyst was analyzed for extent of deactivation.

Future predicted shortages in fossil fuel resources and environmental regulations from fossil fuel combustion have led to great research interest in developing alternatives to fossil fuels. Biomass-derived bio-oils will have the potential to replace conventional transportation fuels because of their sustainability and environmental advantages. However, the presence of high percentages of chemical oxygenates cause negative properties such as high water content, low volatility, lower heating value, corrosiveness, immiscibility with fossil fuels and instability during storage and transportation. Moreover, polymerization, esterification, condensation and other reactions occur between these highly reactive oxygenates in bio-oil (Diebold 2000). These negative properties hinder both bio-oil direct use as a fuel and the fuel conversion process (Mohan, et al. 2006). Hydrodeoxygenation has proven itself effective in converting of bio-oil to pure hydrocarbons. However, the large consumption of expensive hydrogen prevents the industrialization of bio-oil. Therefore, development of more efficient hydrodeoxygenation approaches with less capital cost will be desirable. The objective of this current research was to upgrade raw and distilled bio-oil by oxidation to a stabilized precursor to the final hydrocracking step of hydrodeoxygenation. In the second chapter, raw bio-oil, two pretreated bio-oils and hydrotreated bio-oil were hydrodeoxygenated to produce liquid hydrocarbons in the continuous reactor. In the third chapter, raw bio-oil, oxidized raw bio-oil, distilled bio-oil and oxidized distilled bio-oil were hydrodeoxygenated to liquid hydrocarbons with hydrogen in the batch reactor. In the fourth chapter, oxidized distilled bio-oil was hydrotreated with model syngas to organic liquid products followed by hydrocracking with hydrogen to produce liquid hydrocarbons. In the fifth chapter, oxidized distilled bio-oil was upgraded with syngas (H2/CO molar ratios of 4:6) in a single stage to produce organic liquid products. The resultant stabilities of these organic liquid products were investigated by application of accelerated aging. The research results showed that oxidized distilled bio-oil could be upgraded by the syngas in a single stage to produce stabilized bio-oil. This success will replace hydrogen by syngas for first stage hytrotreating and save shipping fee by transportation less weight of upgraded bio-oil rather than the bulky and high moisture content biomass.

Increased research efforts have recently been accelerated to develop liquid transportation fuels from bio-oil produced by fast pyrolysis. However, these bio-oils contain high levels of oxygenated compounds that require removal to produce viable transportation fuels. A variety of upgrading technologies have been proposed, of which catalytic hydroprocessing of the raw bio-oil has appears to have the best potential due to the fact that no fractionation of the bio-oil is required prior to treatment. The objective of this research was to apply two-stage catalytic hydroprocessing to bio-oil with heterogeneous catalysts to produce hydrocarbon fuels. To achieve this objective seven catalysts were initially compared in first-stage hydrotreating reactions. The result of the comparison of the seven hydrotreating catalysts showed that the MSU-1 catalyst had the significantly highest yield at 38 wt%, had the highest H/C ratio, and reduced oxygen adequately. The MSU-1 catalyst had an energy efficiency of 80%, reduced acid value by 45% and water content by 78%. Higher heating value was doubled by the hydrotreating process of raw bio-oil. Three catalysts were compared as second-stage hydrocracking catalysts. All liquid organic products produced by the catalytic reactions were compared with regard to yield and chemical and physical qualities. Results from these experiments showed that the MSU-2 catalyst had the significantly highest yield at 68 wt%; oxygen value was significantly lower than for the compared catalysts at zero percent. MSU-2 also produced the lowest amount of char at 3.5 wt%. Additionally, MSU-2 produced a high volume of methane gas as a byproduct, with a high value for utilization for production of process heat. A study of reaction time optimization found that best results from application of MSU-2 were for the shortest reaction time of 1 h. This short reaction time is important to reduce hydroprocessing costs. Simulated distillation of hydrocarbon mix results in distribution of these by fuel weights with gasoline comprising 37%, jet fuel 27%, diesel 25% and heavy fuel oil 11%.The energy efficiency of the hydrocracking of first-stage stabilized bio-oil with MSU-2 catalyst was 93.61%.

Energy demand is projected to increase by 56% before 2040 and this will lead to the fast depletion of fossil fuels. Currently, biomass is the only sustainable source of organic carbon and liquid fuels. One major method of converting biomass involves the utilization of heterogeneous catalysts. However, there is still a lack of understanding in the reaction mechanisms and surface interactions between biomass-derived oxygenates and catalysts. Specifically, three important reactions are investigated: i) dehydration of glycerol, ii) hydrolysis of cellulose and cellobiose, and iii) hydrodeoxygenation of bio-oil. Some important concepts are gathered and provide insight into the most attractive conversion strategies. These concepts include the role of Lewis and Brønsted acid sites, synergistic effect between defect sites and functional groups, the advantage of weak acid sites, steric effect imposed by aromatic substituents, and the evolution of surface species in catalyst deactivation. These studies show that a deep understanding of surface chemistry can help to elucidate elementary reaction steps, and there is great potential in using heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of biomass into targeted fuels and chemicals.

<div>Biomass-derived fuels have long been considered as a possible replacement for traditional liquid fuels derived from petroleum. However, biomass as a feedstock requires significant refinement prior to application as a liquid fuel. The H2Bioil process has previously been proposed in which biomass is pyrolyzed and the resulting vapors are passed over a catalyst bed for upgrading to hydrocarbon products in a hydrogen environment [1]. A PtMo catalyst has been developed for the complete hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of biomass pyrolysis vapors to hydrocarbons [2]. However, the product hydrocarbons contain a large fraction of molecules smaller than C4 which would not be suitable as liquid fuels. In fast hydropyrolysis of poplar followed by hydrodeoxygenation over a PtMo/MWCNT catalyst at 25 bar H2 and 300oC, only 32.1% of carbon is captured in C4 – C8 products; 21.7% of carbon is captured in C1 – C3 hydrocarbons [2]. Here, approaches are examined to increase selectivity of H2Bioil to desired products. Aldol condensation catalysts could be used prior to the HDO catalyst in order to increase the carbon number of products. These products would then be hydrodeoxygenated to hydrocarbons of greater average carbon number than with an HDO catalyst alone. Application of a 2% Cu/TiO2 catalyst to a classic aldehyde model compound, butanal, shows high selectivity towards aldol condensation products at low H2 pressures. In more complex systems which more closely resemble biomass pyrolysis vapors, this catalyst also shows significant yields to aldol condensation products, but substantial carbon losses presumed to be due to coke formation are observed. Both glycolaldehyde, a significant product of biomass pyrolysis, and cellulose, a component polymer of biomass, have been pyrolyzed and passed through aldol condensation followed by hydrodeoxygenation in a pulsed fixed-bed microreactor. Glycolaldehyde aldol condensation resulted in the formation of products in the C2-C¬9 range, while the major aldol condensation products observed from cellulose were C7 and C8 products. Carbon losses in glycolaldehyde aldol condensation were reduced under operation at increased hydrogen partial pressures, supporting the hypothesis that increasing selectivity to hydrogenation products can reduce coke formation from primary aldol condensation products. </div><div>The use of feeds which have undergone genetic modification and/or pretreatment by other catalytic processes may also lead to improvements in overall product selectivity. The influence of genetic modifications to poplar lignin on the pyrolysis plus HDO process are investigated, and it is found that these materials have no effect on the final product distribution. The product distribution from a poplar sample which has had lignin catalytically removed is also examined, with the conclusion that the product distribution strongly resembles that of cellulose, however the lignin-removed sample shows high selectivity towards char which is not seen from cellulose. </div><div><br></div>

The conversion of switchgrass lignin, a renewable source for chemicals and fuels, is investigated using reactions such as depolymerization, hydrodeoxygenation and alkylation. First, the lignin is converted into oils containing phenol, substituted guaiacols and other smaller lignin fragments using formic acid and Pt/C through a batch process. A long reaction time was observed to crucial to yield oils with the highest fraction of lower molecular weight compounds with the lowest O/C and highest H/C molar ratio. Second, the zeolite catalyzed gas phase alkylation of phenol, a model compound for the lignin oil, with propylene was investigated. Zeolite pore topology and acid strength were shown to influence the selectivity for the target product, 2-isopropylphenol. This work shows that the conversion of lignin to useful products is possible and suggests some future work to consider before it can be implemented practically.

There is a growing need to develop the processes to produce renewable fuels and chemicals due to the economical, political, and environmental concerns associated with the fossil fuels. One of the most promising methods for a small scale conversion of biomass into liquid fuels is fast pyrolysis. The liquid product obtained from the fast pyrolysis of biomass is called pyrolysis oil or bio-oil. It is a complex mixture of more than 300 compounds resulting from the depolymerization of biomass building blocks, cellulose; hemi-cellulose; and lignin. Bio-oils have low heating value, high moisture content, are acidic, contain solid char particles, are incompatible with existing petroleum based fuels, are thermally unstable, and degrade with time. They cannot be used directly in a diesel or a gasoline internal combustion engine. One of the challenges with the bio-oil is that it is unstable and can phase separate when stored for long. Its viscosity and molecular weight increases with time. It is important to identify the factors responsible for the bio-oil instability and to stabilize the bio-oil. The stability analysis of the bio-oil showed that the high molecular weight lignin oligomers in the bio-oil are mainly responsible for the instability of bio-oil. The viscosity increase in the bio-oil was due to two reasons: increase in the average molecular weight and increase in the concentration of high molecular weight oligomers. Char can be removed from the bio-oil by microfiltration using ceramic membranes with pore sizes less than 1 µm. Removal of char does not affect the bio-oil stability but is desired as char can cause difficulty in further processing of the bio-oil. Nanofiltration and low temperature hydrogenation were found to be the promising techniques to stabilize the bio-oil. Bio-oil must be catalytically converted into fuels and chemicals if it is to be used as a feedstock to make renewable fuels and chemicals. The water soluble fraction of bio-oil (WSBO) was found to contain C2 to C6 oxygenated hydrocarbons with various functionalities. In this study we showed that both hydrogen and alkanes can be produced with high yields from WSBO using aqueous phase processing. Hydrogen was produced by aqueous phase reforming over Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Alkanes were produced by hydrodeoxygenation over Pt/SiO2-Al2O3. Both of these processes were preceded by a low temperature hydrogenation step over Ru/C catalyst. This step was critical to achieve high yields of hydrogen and alkanes. WSBO was also converted to gasoline-range alcohols and C2 to C6 diols with up to 46% carbon yield by a two-stage hydrogenation process over Ru/C catalyst (125 °C) followed by over Pt/C (250 °C) catalyst. Temperature and pressure can be used to tune the product selectivity. The hydroprocessing of bio-oil was followed by zeolite upgrading to produce C6 to C8 aromatic hydrocarbons and C2 to C4 olefins. Up to 70% carbon yield to aromatics and olefins was achieved from the hydrogenated aqueous fraction of bio-oil. The hydroprocessing steps prior to the zeolite upgrading increases the thermal stability of bio-oil as well as the intrinsic hydrogen content. Increasing the thermal stability of bio-oil results in reduced coke yields in zeolite upgrading, whereas, increasing the intrinsic hydrogen content results in more oxygen being removed from bio-oil as H2O than CO and CO2. This results in higher carbon yields to aromatic hydrocarbon and olefins. Integrating hydroprocessing with zeolite upgrading produces a narrow product spectrum and reduces the hydrogen requirement of the process as compared to processes solely based on hydrotreating. Increasing the yield of petrochemical products from biomass therefore requires hydrogen, thus cost of hydrogen dictates the maximum economic potential of the process.

The two main requirements for ceria-zirconia hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) catalysts are the presence of defect sites to bind oxygenates and the ability to adsorb and dissociate hydrogen. Two types of sites were identified for exchange of hydrogen and deuterium. The activation energy for one type of site was associated with H2-D2 exchange through oxygen defect sites. The activation energy for the second type of site was associated with H2-D2 exchange through hydroxyl groups and correlated with crystallite size. Ceria-zirconia can convert guaiacol, a model pyrolysis oil compound, with a high selectivity to phenol, an HDO product. Ceria-zirconia catalysts had a higher conversion of guaiacol to deoxygenated products as well as a higher selectivity towards phenol than pure ceria. They did not deactivate over the course of 72 hours on stream, whereas coking or the presence of water in the feed can cause serious decay of common HDO catalysts HDO. Therefore, ceria-zirconia catalysts are promising HDO catalysts for the first step of deoxygenation. The stability of supported Ru on ZrO2 in acidic or basic environments at reaction temperature is examined. In this study, the ruthenium dispersion is greatly increased by hydrothermal treatment in acidic and basic pH without alterations to the surface area, pore volume, pore size or crystal structure. An increase in Ru dispersion showed an increase in the selectivity to propylene glycol relative to ethylene glycol. A decrease in total Lewis acid site concentration was correlated with a decrease in the ethylene glycol yield. The conclusions of this study indicate that stability of catalysts in realistic industrial environments is crucial to the design of catalysts for a reaction.

A exploração de fontes alternativas para a produção de energia e produtos químicos ganha cada vez mais relevância devido à crescente demanda mundial por energia, combustíveis e produtos sintéticos. Nesse contexto, a biomassa lignocelulósica passa a ser importante matéria prima e o uso de catalisadores heterogêneos uma via atrativa para a transformação química da biomassa. A associação do Ni com Nb2O5 é promissora para obtenção de um sistema catalítico multifuncional com propriedades ácidas e de hidrogenação. O Brasil é o maior produtor mundial de nióbio e possui enormes quantidades de biomassa lignocelulósica. Assim, o uso de catalisadores à base de nióbio para valorização da biomassa é uma maneira de se agregar ciência e tecnologia a estas matérias primas abundantes em nosso país. Dessa forma, o objetivo deste trabalho foi o desenvolvimento de catalisadores heterogêneos de Ni/Nb2O5 para a exploração da biomassa lignocelulósica como matéria prima para produção de combustíveis e produtos químicos. Nb2O5 foi preparado por duas rotas de síntese, hidrólise básica (HB) que produziu um material amorfo com partículas sem morfologia definida e a síntese hidrotérmica (HT), que produziu um material cristalino com morfologia de nano-bastões. O método HT gerou uma nióbia estável em condições hidrotérmicas e com propriedades texturais e ácidas bastantes superiores do que HB. Foi depositado Ni (5, 10, 15 e 25% m/m) em Nb2O5 e através de experimentos de redução monitorados in situ por técnicas de luz síncrotron ficaram estabelecidas as condições de ativação como sendo temperatura de 320oC e tempo de isoterma de no mínimo 1 h sob fluxo de H2. Isso para obtenção de cristalitos pequenos de Ni0 (2 a 25 nm) e para preservar as propriedades estruturais do suporte. Os catalisadores foram avaliados em reações de hidrodesoxigenação de éter difenílico e o sistema Ni/Nb2O5(HT) apresentou atividade para hidrogenólise da ligações éter, hidrogenação do anel aromático e hidrodesoxigenação, apresentando conversão completa do substrato e seletividade maior que 99% para cicloexano, além de poder ser reciclado por cinco ciclos de reação. 15%Ni/Nb2O5(HT) foi ativo e apresentou boa estabilidade na hidrodesoxigenação de um substrato real de lignina e produziu uma mistura de cicloalcanos e álcoois cíclicos em fase líquida com potencial para ser utilizada como biocombustíveis devido a sua baixa razão O/C. Experimentos exploratórios de conversão de celulose indicaram que o sistema catalítico Ni/Nb2O5(HT) também apresenta potencial para obtenção de polióis e glicóis a partir da fração de carboidratos da biomassa. / The exploitation of alternative resources for the production of energy and chemical products is gaining more and more relevance due to the growing world demand for energy, fuels and synthetic products. In this context, lignocellulosic biomass become an important raw material and the use of heterogeneous catalysts a very attractive way for biomass chemical transformation. The association of Ni with Nb2O5 is promising for obtaining a multifunctional catalytic system with acidic and hydrogenation properties. Brazil is the world\'s largest producer of niobium and has enormous amounts of lignocellulosic biomass. So, the use of niobium-based catalysts for biomass valorisation is a way for adding science and technology to these abundant raw materials in our country. Thus, the aim of this work is the development of heterogeneous Ni/Nb2O5 catalysts for the exploitation of lignocellulosic biomass as raw material for the production of fuels and chemicals. Nb2O5 was prepared by two routes of synthesis, basic hydrolysis (HB) that produced an amorphous material with particles with non-defined morphology and hydrothermal (HT) synthesis that produced a crystalline material with morphology of nano-rods. The HT method produced a stable niobia in hydrothermal conditions and with textures and acidic properties quite higher than HB. Ni (5, 10, 15 and 25 wt.%) was deposited on Nb2O5 and by in situ experiments of reduction monitored by synchrotron light techniques the activation conditions were established as being temperature of 320oC for at least 1 h under H2 flow. This condition enables the production of small crystallites of Ni0 (2 at 25 nm) and for preserving the structural properties of the support. The catalysts were evaluated in hydrodeoxygenation reactions of diphenyl ether and the Ni/Nb2O5(HT) system showed activity for hydrogenolysis of the ether linkages, hydrogenation of aromatic rings and hydrodeoxygenation, converting the substrate completely with selectivity higher than 99% for cyclohexane and being recyclable for five reaction cycles. 15% Ni/Nb2O5(HT) was active for hydrodeoxygenation of a real lignin substrate and exhibited good stability, producing a mixture of cyclic cycloalkanes and alcohols in a liquid phase with potential to be used as biofuels due to their low O/C ratio. Exploratory experiments of cellulose conversion indicated that the Ni/Nb2O5(HT) catalyst also has the potential for obtaining polyols and glycols from the carbohydrate fraction of the biomass.