Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a

hydrogenolysis Hydrogenolysis is a chemical reaction whereby a carbon–carbon or carbon–heteroatom single bond is cleaved or undergoes lysis (breakdown) by hydrogen.Ralph Connor, Homer Adkins. Hydrogenolysis Of Oxygenated Organic Compounds. J. Am. Chem. Soc. ...

process for removing

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

from oxygen-containing compounds. Typical HDO catalysts commonly are sulfided

nickel Nickel is a chemical element; it has symbol Ni and atomic number 28. It is a silvery-white lustrous metal with a slight golden tinge. Nickel is a hard and ductile transition metal. Pure nickel is chemically reactive, but large pieces are slo ...

molybdenum Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...

cobalt Cobalt is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Co and atomic number 27. As with nickel, cobalt is found in the Earth's crust only in a chemically combined form, save for small deposits found in alloys of natural meteoric iron. ...

-molybdenum on gamma

alumina Aluminium oxide (or aluminium(III) oxide) is a chemical compound of aluminium and oxygen with the chemical formula . It is the most commonly occurring of several aluminium oxides, and specifically identified as aluminium oxide. It is commonly ...

. An idealized reaction is: :R2O + 2 H2 -> H2O + 2 RH The first review on HDO was published in 1983. HDO is of interest in producing

biofuels Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricultural, domestic ...

, which are derived from oxygen-rich precursors like sugars or lipids. An example of a biomass refining process employing hydrodeoxygenation is the NEXBTL process. HDO of biomass fast pyrolysis vapors under low hydrogen pressures have recently attracted a lot of attention. Bulk molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) was used as catalyst and found to completely deoxygenate cellulose, corn stover, and lignin pyrolysis vapors and produce a stream of hydrocarbons including aromatics, alkenes, and alkanes.{{Cite journal, last1=Shanks, first1=Brent H., last2=Saraeian, first2=Alireza, last3=Nolte, first3=Michael W., date=2017-07-31, title=Hydrodeoxygenation of cellulose pyrolysis model compounds using molybdenum oxide and low pressure hydrogen, journal=Green Chemistry, language=en, volume=19, issue=15, pages=3654–3664, doi=10.1039/C7GC01477E, issn=1463-9270 From an economic viewpoint, only aromatics and alkenes should ideally be produced to enable product incorporation into the existing infrastructure.

References

Chemical processes Petroleum technology