Principal Investigator Yuriy Román
Bio-oil obtained from biomass pyrolysis is an attractive method to increase the energy density lignocellulosic material. Crude bio-oil cannot be utilized as a transportation fuel because its oxygen, water, and acid contents are too high. Therefore, catalytic upgrading methods are necessary to transform bio-oil into more suitable molecules that can be integrated into the refining process. The aim of this project is to devise catalytic strategies to upgrade the various families of compounds present in bio-oil while minimizing the number of unit operations. Our approach centers around the use of advanced catalyst synthesis coupled with rigorous kinetic and mechanistic studies for the elucidation of relevant structure-activity relationships.