What is "hydrodeoxygenation"

n. (context chemistry English) A chemical engineering process in which hydrotreating is used to reduce the oxygen content of hydrocarbons (present as alcohols, aldehydes etc) during oil refining

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.