Upgrading Biomass-Derived Oils by Hydrotreating

Biomass-derived oils are a potential renewable energy source in the environment of fossil energy shortage currently. The wide applications of biomass-derived oils are restrained due to its disadvantages of the high oxygen content, low calorific value, high viscosity, and terrible flame performance, therefore, the bio-oil hydrotreating process is essential. In this chapter, the principles of the hydrotreating process are introduced, including the hydrofining and hydrocracking technologies, and the catalytic hydrotreating process is mainly focused on. The application of the catalytic hydrotreating process in thermochemical conversion was detailed. The systems of electric pyrolysis and catalytic hydrotreating, microwave pyrolysis, and catalytic hydrotreating, and hydrothermal liquefaction and catalytic hydrotreating were introduced systematically. The properties (heating value, viscosity, flash point, and density) of the hydrogenated bio-oil obtained from these processes were expounded. Finally, the conclusions and future outlooks are summarized and stated.