FUEL 28 |
| Research is being conducted world-wide to develop new technologies for the generation of liquid fuels from renewable resources. We have recently demonstrated that it is possible to produce hydrogen(Nature 418, 2002), light alkanes(Angewandte Chemie 43, 2004), and heavy alkanes(Science 308, 2005) by aqueous-phase processing of biomass-derived oxygenates including glucose, sorbitol and glycerol. In this work, we introduce a bifunctional metal-base catalyst that is highly active, selective, hydrothermally stable and recyclable. The bifunctional catalyst allows a single-pot synthesis to produce large water-soluble organic molecules by aldol-condensation of carbohydrate-derived compounds over a base catalyst and subsequent hydrogenation over a metal catalyst. These water-soluble intermediates can be processed further by aqueous phase dehydration/hydrogenation to form liquid alkane fuels. This new catalyst serves as an improvement over using mixed Mg-Al-oxides (hydrotalcites) for aldol-condensation in the aqueous phase, which suffer severe activity loses upon recycling. The selectivity and overall yield of the process can be controlled by the choice of reaction temperature and appropriate molar ratio for co-reactants during the condensation reaction. Developing a stable/recyclable aldol-condensation catalyst with a bifunctional characteristic, which permits a single-reactor design, is a significant advance on the path to making this technology industrially feasible by reducing operating and capital costs. |
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Biofuels for Transportation
1:30 PM-4:45 PM, Sunday, 26 March 2006 Georgia World Congress Center -- C204, Oral
Division of Fuel Chemistry |