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.