Two-Step Bio-Oil Upgrading Using Carbon-Supported Mo₂C Catalysts

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Bio-oils are thermally unstable with high acidity, viscosity, and low heating value. Hence, crude bio-oils must be upgraded to obtain a product that meets current fuel standards while minimizing coke formation and catalyst deactivation. This study combined esterification and hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) in a two-step process to obtain an upgraded bio-oil. Mo 2 C-based catalysts had sufficient acidity to generate esters and stabilize the bio-oil. Among them, 2Ni–Mo 2 C/ABC (ABC─activated biochar) performed better because of a high hydrogenation activity. In the subsequent HDO step, the best Mo 2 C-based catalyst achieved 69% HDO with an overall carbon yield of 67%. The results are comparable to the one-step HDO using a Pd/C catalyst but offer the use of a lower-cost catalyst and reduced coke formation.