510753 Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation of Renewable Oils to Diesel-Range Hydrocarbons Using Ir-ReOx/SiO2 Catalyst

Trent Simonetti, Chemical Engineering, University of Delaware Catalysis Center of Energy Innovation, Newark, DE and Sibao Liu, University of Delaware Catalysis Center of Energy Innovation, Newark, DE

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of renewable plant and waste
cooking oils to long-chain alkanes is a sustainable and promising
process for the production of carbon neutral diesel products. We found that an Ir-ReOx/SiO2 catalyst is effective for the HDO of such
oils for conversion to long-chain alkanes under
very mild conditions . Near
quantitative carbon yields (>80 wt%) in alkanes is obtained from various
renewable oils (palm oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, sunflower oil and
waste cooking oil) at 180 °C and 2 MPa H2. A reaction pathway for the HDO
of renewable oils is proposed. The first step is the hydrogenation of
C=C double bonds to form saturated triglycerides. Then the saturated
triglycerides undergo hydrogenolysis to form a mixture of esters, acids and
propane. The hydrogenation of the carboxylic group via aldehyde
produces a fatty alcohol, which undergoes a sequential direct hydrogenolysis to
long-chain alkanes with high carbon efficiency and selectivity over the Ir-ReOx/SiO2
catalyst. Partial decarbonylation of the aldehyde
intermediates to alkanes with a single carbon loss is also observed, but minimized.

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