Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
Applied Biosystems - More Veriti

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 3 June 2005:
Vol. 308. no. 5727, pp. 1446 - 1450
DOI: 10.1126/science.1111166
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Production of Liquid Alkanes by Aqueous-Phase Processing of Biomass-Derived Carbohydrates

George W. Huber, Juben N. Chheda, Christopher J. Barrett, James A. Dumesic*

Liquid alkanes with the number of carbon atoms ranging from C7 to C15 were selectively produced from biomass-derived carbohydrates by acid-catalyzed dehydration, which was followed by aldol condensation over solid base catalysts to form large organic compounds. These molecules were then converted into alkanes by dehydration/hydrogenation over bifunctional catalysts that contained acid and metal sites in a four-phase reactor, in which the aqueous organic reactant becomes more hydrophobic and a hexadecane alkane stream removes hydrophobic species from the catalyst before they go on further to form coke. These liquid alkanes are of the appropriate molecular weight to be used as transportation fuel components, and they contain 90% of the energy of the carbohydrate and H2 feeds.

Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Wisconsin at Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: dumesic{at}engr.wisc.edu

Read the Full Text

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)