| Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6450467 | Biochemical Engineering Journal | 2016 | 8 Pages |
•Hydro-pretreatment can reduce the viscosity and heteroatom contents of crude oil.•MCM-41 provided the highest upgraded bio-oil yield of 54.5 wt.%.•All of the zeolites promoted the denitrogenation, deoxygenation, and desulfurization.•Zeolite can also accelerate the cracking reaction of the pretreated oil.•The upgraded oil mainly consisted of hydrocarbons.
We report the catalytic hydrothermal upgrading of pretreated algal bio-oil. The reaction was performed at 400 °C for 240 min with the addition of 6 MPa H2 and 10 wt.% zeolite catalyst in supercritical water (ρH2OρH2O = 0.025 g/cm3). Nine zeolites (Hβ, HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 25:1), HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 50:1), HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 170:1), HY (5% Na2O), HY (0.8% Na2O), SAPO-11, MCM-41 (50% Si), and MCM-41 (100% Si) were screened to investigate their effects on the yields of the product fraction and the properties (e.g., elemental composition and heating value) of the upgraded bio-oil. The catalyst type affected the yields of the product fractions: SAPO-11 produced the lowest upgraded bio-oil yield of 42.4 wt.%, and MCM-41 provided the highest yield of 54.5 wt.%. Compared with non-catalytic upgrading reactions, all of the zeolites promoted the denitrogenation, deoxygenation, and desulfurization of the pretreated bio-oil due to the presence of acid sites. HY (5% Na2O), HY (0.8% Na2O), and HZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 25:1) showed the highest activity toward denitrogenation, deoxygenation, and desulfurization, respectively. The upgraded bio-oil mainly consisted of hydrocarbons, accounting for 80% in total and as high as 95.6% of the fraction below 400 °C.
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