Investigation of the temperature influence on the catalytic hydrogenation upgrading of bio-oil using industrial nickel based catalyst RZ409

Temperature and catalyst are critical factors influencing the catalytic hydrogenation of bio-oil. This study employed the industrial Ni-based catalyst RZ409 as the research subject and systematically evaluated its applicability at various reaction temperatures (200, 250, 280, 300, and 330 °C). The oil phase yield, oil properties, and chemical composition were analyzed to determine the optimal temperature. Thermogravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area analysis were utilized to evaluate the influence of temperature on the carbon deposition characteristics of the catalyst. Results showed that the optimum temperature of catalyst RZ409 is 300 °C. At this temperature, the weight factor (WF) reaches a maximum of 26.5%, balancing oil phase yield (39.7%) and oxygen removal efficiency (66.6%). The oil quality improves significantly, with water content reduced to 2.0% and calorific value increased to 37.1 MJ·kg⁻¹. TG, XRD, FTIR, and BET surface area analysis confirmed that carbon deposition on the catalyst can be effectively removed by combustion, with a low activation energy of 31.35 kJ·mol⁻¹ at 300 °C. This study provides valuable theoretical and experimental support for the industrial application of bio-oil catalytic hydrogenation upgrading technology.