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Project

Catalytic conversion of cellulose into light naphtha.

Depletion of the global crude oil reserves causes a shortness of feedstock for the refinery and petrochemical industry. While currently cheap shale gas only compensates the accessibility to short hydrocarbons, longer hydrocarbons and aromatics will be less available in the near future. This PhD thesis therefore investigates the possibility of converting the abundantly available cellulosic feedstock into light naphtha. Main focus of the thesis is a fundamental understanding of the required catalytic pathways, and the necessity of tuning different catalytically active sites, to selectively form light naphtha with high carbon and hydrogen efficiency.

Date:1 Oct 2014 →  31 Dec 2018
Keywords:Biofuel, Benzene, Catalysis, (Hemi)cellulose, Light naphtha, Ethylene & propylene, Biorefinery
Disciplines:Analytical chemistry, Macromolecular and materials chemistry
Project type:PhD project