Catalysts may improve quality and cost of biofuels

Researchers believe catalysts could improve the biofuels production process.

The deoxygenation of biomass such as corn stover or forestry waste could create a significant development in the production of biofuels.

Oils produced by high-temperature treatment of these waste materials contain a large amount of oxygenated compounds that lead to undesirable properties such as high viscosity and corrosiveness.

Jie Chang, Armando Borgna and colleagues from the A*STAR Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences in Singapore describe a series of catalysts that might be used to upgrade these oils by removing the undesirable oxygen-containing functional groups.

Chang and colleagues undertook a detailed study of the structure of the catalysts before and during the reaction, as well as the catalysts that were deactivated.

However, Chang, says: "There is a long way to go before this complete ‘biomass to fuel’ process can become commercial."