Two-step catalytic hydrodeoxygenation of fast pyrolysis oil to hydrocarbon liquid fuels

•Two-step catalytic HDO process used for translating bio-oil to transportation grade hydrocarbon fuel.•First step to overcome coke formation with better biofuel quality.•Second step upgrading biofuel.•Final products similar to fossil fuels with HHV of 46 MJ kg−1 and <1% O content.

Two-step catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of fast pyrolysis oil was investigated for translating pyrolysis oil to transportation grade hydrocarbon liquid fuels. At the first mild HDO step, various organic solvents were employed to promote HDO of bio-oil to overcome coke formation using noble catalyst (Ru/C) under mild conditions (300 °C, 10 MPa). At the second deep HDO step, conventional hydrogenation setup and catalyst (NiMo/Al2O3) were used under severe conditions (400 °C, 13 MPa) for obtaining hydrocarbon fuel. Results show that the phenomenon of coke formation is effectively eliminated, and the properties of products have been significantly improved, such as oxygen content decreases from 48 to 0.5 wt% and high heating value increases from 17 to 46 MJ kg−1. GC–MS analysis indicates that the final products include C11C27 aliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons. In short, the fast pyrolysis oils were successfully translated to hydrocarbon liquid fuels using a two-step catalytic HDO process.