Investigation of deactivation mechanisms of a solid acid catalyst during esterification of the bio-oils from mallee biomass

Xun Hu, Caroline Lievens, Daniel Mourant, Yi Wang, Liping Wu, Richard Gunawan, Yao Song, Chun Zhu Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

52 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

This study reports the deactivation mechanisms of the solid acid catalyst Amberlyst 70 during the esterification of bio-oils from mallee biomass and the methods for catalyst regeneration. The metal ions in bio-oil deactivated Amberlyst 70 via ion exchange with the hydrogen ions on/in catalyst, which changed structure of catalysts and reduced availability of acidic sites. N-containing organics reacted with the hydrogen ions on/in catalyst, forming neutral salts and resulting in complete catalyst deactivation. Polymers formed during the esterification of bio-oils deposited on/in catalyst, reducing the accessibility of catalytic sites. Washing with solvents could remove some adsorbed organics and restore some catalytic activity but not much. In comparison, ion exchange in a concentrated sulfuric acid removes most of metal ions and the N-containing organics and significantly improves the catalytic activity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)94-103
Number of pages10
JournalApplied energy
Volume111
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2013
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Bio-oil esterification
  • Catalyst deactivation and regeneration
  • Ion exchange
  • Metal ions
  • Polymer
  • ITC-ISI-JOURNAL-ARTICLE

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