Increasing efficiency of biogenic carbon incorporation into conventional fuels is a critical step in biofuels development and adoption. Liquefaction, such as fast pyrolysis and hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), can convert biomass and waste to liquid intermediates (bio-oils and bio-crudes) efficiently and cost-effectively, which can in turn be converted to hydrocarbon fuels by hydrotreating. Co-processing these biocrudes with petroleum feedstocks leverages the existing petroleum refining infrastructure, which significantly reduces capital cost for the overall technologies.  However, there are very limited research on co-processing of the most impactful biocrudes in hydrotreating, more extensive works are conducted on co-processing of vegetable oils, animal fats, and waste cooking oils with diverse results on the impact of co-processing. Significant research is required to determine 1) how biogenic heteroatom (O and N) containing species impact on hydrotreating chemistry and reaction kinetics, fuel product quality, catalysts and equipment; 2) how to modify existing hydrotreating catalysts for co-processing; 3) biogenic carbon content in co-processed fuels; 4) economic impacts. This presentation will provide a summary of our recent work on co-processing of woody fast pyrolysis bio-oil and wastewater sludge HTL bio-crudes with a gas oil in hydrotreating and hydrocracking to answer some the above questions. Specifically, the impact of N and O containing species in bio-crudes on gas oil conversion were evaluated, the reaction mechanism and kinetics of hydrotreating of some unique N and O containing species were determined, the distribution of biogenic carbon in fuel products were identified, and the potential impact of bio-crudes on catalysts and reactor were evaluated.

Co-processing bio-crudes with petroleum gas oil in hydrotreating: Simultaneous heteroatom removal and incorporation of biogenic carbon in produced fuels

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.