Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of Biomass Derived Ketones Using Supported Transition Metals in a Continuous Reactor

The hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of 5-nonanone—a model compound for more complex biomass-derived molecules—to n -nonane was investigated using a variety of heterogeneous multifunctional metal-impregnated aluminosilicate catalysts in a packed-bed continuous flow reactor system. Under optimized reaction conditions (200 °C, 1.38 MPa H 2 ), >99% conversion and >99% selectivity to n -nonane was achieved within a 30 min residence time over both Ni (7 wt %) and Co (9 wt %) supported on Perlkat 79-3, a high-surface area amorphous aluminosilicate. This work provides a further understanding of the effects of different metals, supports, and metal loading amounts on HDO of 5-nonanone and demonstrates an efficient translation of HDO reactions of ketones from batch reactors to continuous flow systems.