Electrolysis of pyrolysis oil distillates and permeates in a multi-anode proton exchange membrane cell

Pyrolysis oil from softwood forestry residues (sawdust and bark) often contains too much water to be a useful fuel. Excess water can be removed by distillation or pervaporation to meet the ASTM burner fuel standard, while producing methanol rich aqueous distillates/permeates. This work focuses on electrolysis of the aqueous byproduct stream to produce hydrogen. Short-path vacuum distillation produced the best fuel, but acetic acid, hydroxyacetone, acrolein, and other impurities strongly suppressed the electrolysis of the methanol. However, fractional distillation produced a distillate that could be electrolyzed at 14 mA cm(-2) at 0.4 V at a PtRu catalyst, and 220 mA cm(-2) at 0.9 V at a Pt catalyst. Pervaporation also produced a standard fuel, while electrolysis of permeates produced current densities as high as 44 mA cm(-2) at 0.5 V and 240 mA cm(-2) at 0.9 V. There is scope for substantial improvements by decreasing the effect of impurities.