Hydrodeoxygenation

Hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a hydrogenolysis process for removing oxygen from oxygen containing compounds. Typical HDO catalysts commonly are sulfided nickel-molybdenum or cobalt-molybdenum on gamma alumina. An idealized reaction is:

The first review on HDO was published in 1983. HDO is potentially of interest for producing biofuels, which are derived from oxygen-rich precursors like sugars or lipids. Because of high capital and transportation costs, HDO is not commercially feasible for the deoxygenation of biomass-derived feedstocks. Instead, deoxygenation of biomass typically involve dehydration and decarboxylations.