New insights into the effect of pressure on catalytic hydropyrolysis of biomass

Catalytic hydropyrolysis of beech wood has been conducted in a fluid bed reactor at 450 °C with a sulfided CoMo catalyst followed by a fixed bed hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) reactor with a sulfided NiMo catalyst at hydrogen pressures between 3.0 and 35.8 bar. Using both reactors the condensable organic yield (condensed organic and C4+ in gas) varied between 18.7 and 21.5 wt% dry ash free basis (daf) and was independent of the hydrogen pressure. At 15.9 bar hydrogen or higher the condensed organic phase was essentially oxygen free (