SUSTAINABLE MATERIALS AND CATALYSIS RESEARCH GROUP (SMCRG)

Increasing demand of fuel and limited resources led us to utilize biomass for the production of biodiesel or fatty acid esters. However, the presence of oxygen limited its use to blend with diesel. Lately, the production of fuel grade hydrocarbons attracted significant attention, as it could be used directly as a liquid fuel.

Our group is working on development of new low cost catalyst based on clay and other natural materials for conversion of biomass to transport fuel. Several successful catalysts has been designed based on M/Clay for selective hydroprocessing of mono-, di- and triglycerides, and fatty acids/esters maintaining high carbon economy to give high quality diesel grade hydrocarbons. For the first time, herein we reported a green, cost effective and recyclable non-noble metal-intercalated natural clay catalytic system to obtain fuel grade hydrocarbons from algae oil. The catalysts are highly selective towards deoxygenation with suppressed formation of other side products resulting from cracking and isomerization. Remarkable hydrodeoxygenation selectivity could be achieved with Co/clay catalysts. Metal leaching is less than 1 ppm in all cases. These catalysts offer green and practical approach towards the production of fuel from biomass feedstocks including vegetable, algae and bio oils at industrial scale.