DETAILED CHARACTERIZATION OF GENERATION II BIO-OILS BY FOURIER TRANSFORM ION CYCLOTRON RESONANCE MASS SPECTROMETRY

摘要

The need for renewable fuels to replace/reduce current dependence on petroleum fuels is unavoidable, as fossil fuels are a depletable resource. Currently, the development of alternative fuels could lessen the demand for petroleum and potentially replace a significant energy share currently dominated by petroleum based fuels. Such fuels need to be produced from renewable resources without negatively impacting agricultural industries (land use and irrigation) or competing with current food sources (food vs. fuel), as do "Generation I" biofuels such as ethanol. Thus, waste and non-foodstuff biomass conversion from "Generation II" biofuels such as plant, forestry, and agricultural residues, as well as municipal wastes and animal byproducts, whose continuing supply and low cost, coupled with the ability to generate oils from established farms through low temperature pyrolysis, make Generation II feedstocks an attractive biofuel source. Previous analysis of bio-oils has focused on the characterization of the whole bio-oil by (e.g.) FT-IR, TGA, GC-MS, and FT-ICR MS. FT-IR can distinguish chemical functionalities, TGA can determine bulk behavior of the bio-oil, GC-MS can identify volatile compounds, and FT-ICR MS provides a molecular fingerprint of most of the components but not necessarily their chemical functionalities. Here, detailed analysis of bio-oils from several difference sources by FT-ICR MS reveals bio-oil molecular-level composition. The wide range of compounds indentified within the different bio-oils highlights the complexity of the liquid products generated from different starting materials and pyrolysis conditions.