Location: Sustainable Biofuels and Co-products Research
Project Number: 8072-41000-095-000-D
Project Type: In-House Appropriated
Start Date: Oct 27, 2014
End Date: Oct 26, 2019
Objective:
1: Develop pyrolysis processes that enable the commercial production of marketable, partially-deoxygenated pyrolysis oil intermediates.
2: Develop post-pyrolysis technologies that enable the commercial upgrading of pyrolysis oils into marketable fuels and/or chemicals.
3: Develop scalable technologies that enable commercially-viable pyrolysis oil-based products and co-products.
Approach:
A three-tier developmental approach at the analytical, pilot and field scales will be followed to overcome the scientific, engineering and economic barriers that have challenged production and blending of biomass pyrolysis oils (bio-oil) into hydrocarbon fuels. In doing so three specific thrust areas including catalytic pyrolysis, reactive/co-reactant assisted pyrolysis, and upgrading of pyrolysis oils produced from these processes, already advanced at ARS, will be strengthened. The step-wise approach includes (i) the quest for novel processing strategies that address bio-oil stability issues directly at the farm site; (ii) enabling robust catalytic deoxygenation processes that will allow for effective separation of critical (valuable or detrimental) chemical species present within bio-oils; (iii) production of an intermediate bio-oil product that can support interim markets (e.g. home heating oil) and; (iv) production of hydrocarbons suitable for refining into fuels and for manufacture of specialty chemicals. Additionally, extensive physical and chemical property data will be collected to enable operations from the farm to the refinery. Data will be used to demonstrate compatibility of the liquid hydrocarbon product with petroleum refining unit operations and for economic and environmental assessment of the process life cycle.
