WASHINGTON: Researchers have developed a new catalyst that could make biofuels cheaper and more efficient.

The researchers, led by Washington State University professor Yong Wang, made the catalyst by mixing cheap iron with a small amount of rare palladium.

One of the biggest challenges in biofuel production is obtaining fuel carbon while removing oxygen. High oxygen levels make biofuels more unstable, less viscous, and less efficient than fossil fuels, making them unsuitable for use in aircraft or diesel fuel.

The researchers wanted to use as little hydrogen as possible in the reaction to increase the yield. /p The researchers developed a mixture of iron and a small amount of palladium to effectively and cheaply remove oxygen as a catalyst.

“The synergy between palladium and iron is amazing,” says Wang, who works at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University.” .

Wang says, “When coupled, the catalyst is much better than the individual metals in terms of activity, stability, and selectivity.”

Iron catalysts are an inexpensive way to remove oxygen from plant material. But it stops working when the catalyst interacts with water, which is an important part of biofuel production.

Palladium works in water, but is not very effective at removing oxygen, and the metal is very expensive.

The researchers found that adding a small amount of palladium to iron helps coat the iron surface of the catalyst with hydrogen, which speeds up the reaction and makes it work better. It also prevents water from interfering with the reaction. Removing oxygen also requires less hydrogen.

“For biofuels, we need to remove as much oxygen as possible to achieve energy density,” Wang said.

“Of course, you want to minimize the cost of removing oxygen in the process, in which case you can minimize hydrogen consumption, increase overall activity, use cheaper, richer catalyst materials, and achieve what you want: higher fuel product yields.”

The research is published here in the journal ACS Catalytic.