Catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) of lignocellulosic biomass is a versatile technology for the generation of stabilized biogenic oils that can be further processed into low carbon fuels, chemicals, and materials. This presentation will feature recent advancements in CFP and hydrotreating to produce transportation fuels with a modelled selling price of &lt; $3.00 gasoline gallon equivalent and a &gt;70% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil-based pathways. In this research CFP was performed using an ex situ fixed bed of Pt/TiO2 with co-fed H2 at atmospheric pressure to produce bio-oil with a carbon yield of 36% and 17 wt% oxygen on a dry basis. Comprehensive analysis of the product streams enabled excellent carbon balance closures of 100 ± 1%, which provides valuable insight into the process chemistry and reduces the uncertainty of technoeconomic and lifecycle models. The feedstock blend included 50 wt% loblolly pine + 50 wt% forest residues, which reduces cost and carbon intensity through the inclusion of waste materials. Durability was evaluated over 100+ reaction/regeneration cycles and advanced catalyst characterization techniques were employed to track inorganic deposition (e.g., K) across various bed segments and evaluate the corresponding impact on material properties and performance. A first-of-its-kind integrated assessment of light oxygenate adsorption from real biomass pyrolysis vapors showed near quantitative recovery of acetone and 2-butanone, providing an opportunity to improve the overall process efficiency through the valorization of co-products that are too volatile to be effectively captured in the CFP-oil. After condensation, the CFP-oil was co-hydrotreated with straight run diesel (10:90%) to produce fuel blendstocks with 95-98% carbon efficiency. The oxygen content of the hydrotreated oil was below detection limits, and the diesel fraction exhibited excellent cetane values of 50-55. While these data highlight the potential for producing low carbon transportation fuels via fixed bed CFP, additional research is needed, and the presentation will conclude with a discussion of technical risks and data gaps to be addressed prior to process scale up.

Low carbon transportation fuel from lignocellulosic biomass via catalytic fast pyrolysis and hydrotreating

ACS Spring 2022

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