Characterized by XRD and TEM, highly dispersed molybdenum carbide (Mo2C) nanoparticles with a diameter of 1–4 nm were effectively synthesized on activated carbon at 700 °C. The Mo2C-based catalyst exhibited high activity and stability for the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of vanillin under mild conditions (100 °C, 1.0 MPa of H2, 3 h) in aqueous solution. According to the distribution of products with time, a HDO mechanism involving vanillyl alcohol as an intermediate product was proposed. Moreover, after being recycled several times, the loss of catalytic activity was negligible, which demonstrated that the Mo2C-based catalyst had the property of resistance to deactivation.

The crude bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of rice husk was upgraded in supercritical ethanol using aluminum silicate as a catalyst. The results showed that the supercritical upgrading process performed effectively and the components of upgraded bio-oil were optimized greatly. Acidic aluminum silicate facilitates esterification in supercritical ethanol to convert most acids contained in crude bio-oil into various kinds of esters. The amount of phenols that exist extensively in crude bio-oil decreased during the supercritical upgrading process. Aldehydes, such as furfural and vanillin, which are typically present in crude bio-oil, were removed during the supercritical upgrading process and not detected in upgraded bio-oil. The residue of distillated upgraded bio-oil decreased evidently compared to that of distillated crude bio-oil. The density and kinematical viscosity of upgraded bio-oil decreased compared to that of crude bio-oil. The pH value and heating value of upgraded bio-oil increased compared to that of crude bio-oil. The changes of these properties showed that the quality of upgraded bio-oil was improved.

The fabrication of hollow polysiloxane capsule-supported palladium complexes has been investigated. Capsule-supported cyano-palladium(0) complexes were firstly prepared and their catalytic performance in the Heck arylation of alkenes was studied. Generally the method involves the consecutive cocondensation of 4-(triethoxysilyl)butyronitrile and dimethyldimethoxysilane monomers onto a microemulsion of preformed polydimethylsiloxane and the subsequent removal of the templated polydimethylsiloxane by exposure to solvents, and then the above product is reacted with palladium acetate in anhydrous toluene and reduced with KBH4 in ethanol to produce the hollow polysiloxane capsule-supported palladium complex. UV-VIS spectra and FT-IR spectra indicated that the capsules chelated with the palladium and the results of TEM and AFM measurements show that a hollow polysiloxane capsule-supported palladium complex has been prepared. These complex are highly active and stereoselective for the Heck reaction and can be easily separated from the reaction mixture. Moreover, these polysiloxane capsule-supported palladium(0) catalysts can be retrieved and reused with high catalytic stability.