Illinois Researchers Identify Greener Biofuels Catalyst

Biofuels are made from renewable materials and offer an alternative to petroleum-based sources. However, many biofuels are costly to produce because the precursor bio-oil must be processed before it can be turned into liquid fuel. A new research from the University of Illinois Prairie Research Institute could be a key to make fuels produced from biological sources greener and more affordable.

Their research points to a cheaper and renewable catalyst for processing that uses common bacteria and the metal palladium, which can be recovered from waste sources. The bio-oil produced from algae contains impurities such as nitrogen and oxygen, but treating it with palladium as a catalyst during processing helps remove those impurities. For the palladium to do its job, the bio-oil needs to flow past it during processing.

To determine the effectiveness of the new method, the team conducted a variety of chemical and physical analyses and compared the biofuel quality to one made using the commercially produced catalyst. The team found that their bio-oil product was as good or even slightly better than those produced via the commercial catalyst.

However, the commercial catalyst can be used over and over without extensive processing, while the team's palladium-on-bacteria catalyst will need to undergo processing to be reused.