Upgrading of triglycerides, pyrolysis oil, and lignin over metal sulfide catalysts: A review on the reaction mechanism, kinetics, and catalyst deactivation
Review article, 2023

Human activities such as burning fossil fuels for energy production have contributed to the rising global atmospheric CO2 concentration. The search for alternative renewable and sustainable energy sources to replace fossil fuels is crucial to meet the global energy demand. Bio-feedstocks are abundant, carbon-rich, and renewable bioresources that can be transformed into value-added chemicals, biofuels, and biomaterials. The conversion of solid biomass into liquid fuel and their further hydroprocessing over solid catalysts has gained vast interest in industry and academic research in the last few decades. Metal sulfide catalysts, a common type of catalyst being used in the hydroprocessing of fossil feedstocks, have gained great interest due to their low cost, industrial relevance, and easy implementation into the current refining infrastructures. In this review, we aim to provide a comprehensive overview that covers the hydrotreating of various bio-feedstocks like fatty acids, phenolic compounds, pyrolysis oil, and lignin feed using sulfided catalysts. The main objectives are to highlight the reaction mechanism/networks, types of sulfided catalysts, catalyst deactivation, and reaction kinetics involved in the hydrotreating of various viable renewable feedstocks to biofuels. The computational approaches to understand the application of metal sulfides in deoxygenation are also presented. The challenges and needs for future research related to the valorization of different bio-feedstocks into liquid fuels, employing sulfided catalysts, are also discussed in the current work.

Lignin

Sulfided catalysts

Pyrolysis oil

Triglycerides

Catalysts deactivation

Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO)

Reaction kinetics

Author

You Wayne Cheah

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Muhammad Abdus Salam

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Joby Sebastian

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Sreetama Ghosh

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Prakhar Arora

Preem

Olov Öhrman

Preem

Louise Olsson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Derek Creaser

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chemical Technology

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

2213-2929 (ISSN) 2213-3437 (eISSN)

Vol. 11 3 109614

Subject Categories

Chemical Process Engineering

Bioenergy

Energy Systems

DOI

10.1016/j.jece.2023.109614

More information

Latest update

3/23/2023