(327a) Hydrogenation of Fast Pyrolysis Oils From Proteinaceous Biomass

Fast pyrolysis oils from biomass materials with high protein content have been recently shown to be in most cases more stable and partially deoxygenated compared with those from mostly lignocellulosic biomass (wood, grasses) due to nucleophilic substitution of nitrogen for oxygen.  However, in order for them to be used as transportation fuels or petroleum refinery feedstocks these pyrolysis oils still must be upgraded to reduce their heteroatom (N, O, S) content.  Because the composition of these proteinaceous pyrolysis oils differs greatly from those from lignocellosic feedstocks, their behavior in various upgrading steps will be different.   Therefore, we studied the hydrogenation of fast pyrolysis oils from the presscake of pennycress seeds as a model for the hydrotreating of proteinaceous fast pyrolysis oils.  Several heterogeneous precious metal catalysts were screened in a batch mode using a Parr reactor, with standard conditions of 2000 psi H₂ at 300 °C used to hydrogenate the bio-oil. The products analyzed by several methods including elemental analysis, two-dimensional GC/MS and NMR to characterize the chemical transformations that occurred and compare the products with those from hydrogenation of lignocellulosic (wood) pyrolysis oils.  Furthermore, to deduce the selectivity of the catalysts for some of the individual reactions taken place in the complex system, the two-dimensional GC-MS data was subjected to advanced data comparison methods for the determination of reliable peaks for discrimination among the products of the different catalysts.  This allowed for comparison of corresponding chemicals and chemical families within the products from the various catalysts and identification of the catalytic selectivites for various reactions occurring in the mixture.