Biomass pyrolysis oil can be converted to hydrocarbons by hydrotreatment, but the cost of such hydrocarbons is high. Cost reductions in hydrotreating can be achieved by reducing severity of conditions and reducing hydrogen consumption. A hydrogen-donating refinery stream could be used to hydrogenate the bio-oil in order to reduce costs associated with hydrogen manufacture. The objective of this work was to assess the promise of hydrotreating pyrolysis oil with hydrogen-rich petroleum streams.Significantly better deoxygenation of the pyrolysis oil could be obtained in the presence of naphtha compared to hydrotreating pyrolysis oil only under the same conditions. When naphtha was added to the pyrolysis oil in the ratio of 2:1 the hydrotreated product contained significantly more water and less coke.To gain insight into the impact of hydrogen donors, the effects of a petroleum-based hydrogen donor (tetralin) and a neutral solvent (dodecane) were evaluated by treating pyrolysis oil in an inert gas (He) instead of hydrogen. Tetralin was an active hydrogen donor, giving a product slate similar to experiments where hydrogen was present. In contrast, dodecane gave poor results, yielding solid fixed carbon in excess of 10% of the initial mass of biomass.

Hydrotreating of biomass pyrolysis oils in the presence of solvents

248th National Meeting (2014)

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