2011 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) Evaluate the relationship between yield and properties of bio-oil, biochar, and noncondensable gas co-products from catalytic treatments during fast pyrolysis and of the bio-oil products to produce a stable, refinable bio-oil. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) Carry out in-situ catalytic pyrolysis jointly at the micro- and pilot-scale reactor systems developed at ARS using heterogeneous catalysts formulated and produced at the University of Oklahoma so as to evaluate pathways to producing fungible liquid transportation fuels such as gasoline, diesel and jet grade fuels that retain carbon and minimize hydrogen consumption. The approach will involve iterative procedures to provide feedback for catalyst formulation at the collaborator’s facility so as to develop highly stable catalyst types, structures and morphology, with active sites capable of removing reactive oxygen from the oxygenated, sugar-derived and phenolic compounds formed in the initial pyrolysis process so as to produce a stable, refinable pyrolysis oil with molecules that have transportation fuel carbon structures (e.g. from 6 to 17 carbons). State of the art analytical techniques including GCxGC, NMR, LC, etc., will be used to evaluate product quality and mass and energy balances will be closed to establish product recovery efficiencies. 3.Progress Report Kicked off the research collaboration with writing one full grant proposal and one pre-proposal to the DOE. In the meantime, have started to conduct joint research with our own funds. OU collaborator visited ERRC with graduate students. Have completed two major experimental runs on catalytic cracking of pyrolysis vapors using catalysts developed at OU and staged pyrolysis to pretreat pyrolysis feedstock as means of stabilizing products. Progress was monitored by conference calls and site visits.