Catalytic Deoxygenation of Guaiacol Using Methane

Guaiacol, produced by thermal degradation of lignin, represents a model compound for upgrading of fast pyrolysis bio-oils by deoxygenation. In our prior work, with Pt/C catalyst, such a process using H-2 was studied. To overcome the high cost of H-2, methane is used in this work to deoxygenate guaiacol. On Pt/C catalyst, in terms of guaiacol conversion and product distribution, methane is found to exhibit as good deoxygenation performance as H-2. The lifetime of this catalyst, however, is short (<3 h). The lifetime of Pt-Bi/C catalyst is extended (no significant deactivation in 5 h), by addition of bismuth as a promoter. This work provides a new approach for bio-oil upgrading using methane as a reductant instead of hydrogen.