Production of Cellulose-derived Olefins and Applicability to Gasoline

Abstract

Production of hydrocarbons from biomass, in which the hydrocarbon molecules have been included in conventional gasoline, becomes attractive, because the products will be compatible with existing gasoline supply infrastructures and can be blended in higher ratios into gasoline than ethanol. The present study proposes a gasoline-boiling-range olefin production process, which combines hexanol production from cellulose using Ir–ReO_x/SiO₂ and acid catalysts, and hexene production from the hexanol using dehydration catalyst (H-ZSM-5). Our previous study found that hexanol can be obtained in relatively high yield of 60 % in depolymerizing cellulose by mechanocatalysis with the aid of H₂SO₄, and then reacting the cellulose with hydrogen over Ir–ReO_x/SiO₂. The present study investigated the compositions of the hexene mixture obtained by dehydrating 1-, 2-, and 3-hexanol, and the applicability of the mixture to gasoline based on JIS specifications. About 22 vol% and ca. 7 vol% of the hexene mixture could be blended into regular gasoline in summer and winter, respectively. Therefore, the hexene mixture obtained from cellulose through this pathway is a potential biofuel.