Study of the hydrodeoxygenation of carbonyl, car☐ylic and guaiacyl groups over sulfided CoMo/γ-Al2O3 and NiMo/γ-Al2O3 catalysts

The elimination of specific oxygenated groups of biomass-derived pyrolysis oils (bio-oils) is necessary for improving their stability. These are mainly unsaturated groups like alkene, carbonyl and car☐ylic functions, as well as guaiacyl groups. For practical applications, it is desirable that the reactions are performed selectively in order to avoid excessive hydrogen consumption. The reactions must be done at relatively low temperature in order to limit competitive thermal condensation reactions. In this study, model oxygenated compounds were used, namely 4-methylacetophenone, diethyldecanedioate and guaiacol. They were tested simultaneously in one reaction test in the presence of sulfided cobalt-molybdenum and nickel-molybdenum supported on γ-alumina catalysts in a batch system. Their reactivity and conversion scheme were determined. The ketonic group is easily and selectively hydrogenated into a methylene group at temperatures higher than 200°C. Car☐ylic groups are also hydrogenated to methyl groups, but a parallel decar☐ylation occurs at comparable rates. A temperature around 300°C is required for the conversion of car☐ylic groups as well as for the conversion of the guaiacyl groups. The main reaction scheme of guaiacol is its transformation in hydroxyphenol which is subsequently converted to phenol. But in batch reactor conditions, guaiacol gives a high proportion of heavy products. CoMo and NiMo catalysts have comparable activities and selectivities. However, the NiMo catalyst has a higher decar☐ylating activity than CoMo and also leads to a higher proportion of heavy products during the conversion of guaiacol.