Pt/Al 2 O 3 -catalytic deoxygenation for upgrading of Leucaena leucocephala-pyrolysis oil Jiraporn Payormhorm a,c , Kunn Kangvansaichol b , Presert Reubroycharoen a,c , Prapan Kuchonthara a,c , Napida Hinchiranan a,c,⇑ a Department of Chemical Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand b Petroleum Products and Alternative Fuels Research Department, PTT Research and Technology Institute, Ayudthaya 13170, Thailand c Center of Excellence on Petrochemical and Materials Technology, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand highlights  Pt/Al 2 O 3 -catalytic deoxygenation could upgrade real bio-oil from biomass pyrolysis.  O/C value of deoxygenated bio-oil from L. leucocephala trunks pyrolysis was 0.14.  Phenolic compounds in bio-oils from woody biomass were difficult to be eliminated.  Catalytic deoxygenation reduced O/C of bio-oil from microalgae pyrolysis to 0.06. graphical abstract article info Article history: Received 12 January 2013 Received in revised form 3 April 2013 Accepted 4 April 2013 Available online 15 April 2013 Keywords: Bio-oil Pyrolysis Biomass Deoxygenation Catalyst abstract The aim of this study was to improve the quality of bio-oil produced from the pyrolysis of Leucaena leu- cocephala trunks via catalytic deoxygenation using Pt/Al 2 O 3 (Pt content = 1.32% (w/w)). The minimum molar ratio of oxygen/carbon (O/C) at 0.14 was achieved when the amount of catalyst was 10% (w/w, bio-oil) and was applied under 4 bar of initial nitrogen pressure at 340 °C for 1 h. The reaction mechanism of the catalytic deoxygenation, in terms of reforming, water–gas shift and dehydration reactions, was proposed. To consider the effect of different biomass types on the efficiency of catalytic deoxygenation, the bio-oils obtained from the pyrolysis of sawdust, rice straw and green microalgae were likewise eval- uated for direct comparison. Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The world’s energy consumption is annually increasing due to the increase in the global population, economics and level of technologies. This induces high depletion rate of the non-renew- able fossil fuels. Moreover, the use of such levels of fossil fuels leads to the release of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), one of greenhouse gases, at higher volumes than can be autotrophically fixed (Bulu- shev and Ross, 2011). For agricultural countries, the biomass of crop plants left after harvesting has high potential to be used as a sustainably renewable energy source with low cost and high production efficiency by converting the oil component to biodie- sel (fatty acid alkyl esters) and the carbohydrate component to small organic compounds and especially to alcohols like ethanol or propanol, or by the direct combustion of the biomass in elec- tricity generation and other thermal processes (Dam et al., 0960-8524/$ - see front matter Ó 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.04.023 ⇑ Corresponding author at: Department of Chemical Technology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand. Tel.: +66 2218 7518; fax: +66 2255 5831. E-mail address: napida.h@chula.ac.th (N. Hinchiranan). Bioresource Technology 139 (2013) 128–135 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Bioresource Technology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/biortech