Hydrocracking of Biomass-Derived Materials into Alkanes in the Presence of Platinum-Based Catalyst and Hydrogen

Renewable green C2-C9 alkanes can be directly produced by Pt/H-ZSM-5-catalyzed hydrocracking of biomass-derived materials, no pre-treated or pre-treated by alcohol. The pre-treatment of cellulose in 1-hexanol at 623 K, followed by hydrocracking catalyzed by Pt/H-ZSM-5(23) at 673 K, produced C2-C9 alkanes in as high as 89% yields with CH(4)/CO(x) yields of only 6%. The reaction pathway involves lowering of molecular weight of cellulose materials, producing, probably, oxygenates intermediates such as mono-saccharide and disaccharide, which are further efficiently converted to alkane products by successive hydrocracking and condensation, catalyzed by Pt/H-ZSM-5.