Solvolysis and Catalytic Hydrotreatment of Wood

Abstract

The objective of this study is to produce hydrocarbon fuel from wood in a two steps process. In the first step, pine wood powder is treated with acidified organic solvents such as ethanol, methanol, ethylene glycol, tetralin and mixture of them with phenol at relatively mild conditions. The wood is completely dissolved in a mixture of phenol/tetralin (50/50 by wt.).The yield of the oil obtained, so-called solvolysis oil, is 70% by wt. of the initial dry wood. It is soluble in aceton and has an oxygen content of 21.5% wt. In the second step the solvolysis oil is subjected to a catalytic hydrotreatment with CoMoS, NiMoS and Iron powder as catalysts, in the presence of tetralin as hydrogen donor solvent. The reaction temperature is fixed at 350 °C. The initial pressure of hydrogen is tested between 30 to 90 bar. The NiMoS has the best catalytic efficiency on oxygen removal. The upgraded oil obtained is rich in aromatic, aliphatic and phenolic compounds. So, some runs have been effected by using the upgraded oil to replace fresh solvent in the solvolysis step. The results of these experiments show that the upgraded oil is very effective in the solubilization of wood.