The high oxygen content of pyrolysis
bio-oil with many organic
functional groups in it limits its direct application as a blendstock.
The upgradation of biomass-derived oxygenates into renewable fuels
and value-added chemicals via catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) has
received considerable attention in recent years. This review focuses
on HDO of key model compound oxygenates, which sets the ground to
propose the overall reaction mechanism of HDO of bio-oils. Catalysts
play a vital role in HDO, and its design poses many challenges because
of different reactions involved such as hydrogenolysis, hydrogenation,
decarbonylation, and dehydration occurring simultaneously at different
catalyst-active sites. The main objective here is to present a comprehensive
introduction to the reaction mechanism involved in the HDO of bio-oil
model oxygenates. For this, a thorough discussion of different reaction
pathways taking place during the HDO of five model oxygenates, viz.,
anisole, guaiacol, eugenol, vanillin, and dibenzofuran, is presented.
The model compounds are selected to provide a good description of
the HDO of lignin-derived compounds present in bio-oils. Particular
emphasis is placed on the effect of the catalyst, temperature, hydrogen
partial pressure, and solvent employed on the product distribution.
This review will aid not just in understanding the interrelations
between the nature of the catalyst, HDO mechanism, and product distribution
but will also provide thoughtful directions for the applications of
HDO in real bio-oil upgradation.