Catalytic conversion of biomass

Abstract

Catalytic processes for conversion of biomass to transportation fuels have gained an increasing attention in sustainable energy production. The biomass can be converted to fuels via three platforms, such as fast pylolysis (bio-oil as intermediate), hydrolysis (sugars as intermediates) and gasification (synthesis gas as intimidates). Recently it has been reported that biomass can be directly converted to polyols, such as ethylene glycol and propanediol. Those polyols can be converted to gasoline and diesels via hydrogenolysis, aldol condensation and hydrogenation reactions on multifunctional catalysts. The project will deal with synthesis, characterization and catalytic test of Ni-M/ZnO (M-Cu, Ru, Pt) based catalysts.