Biomass to Gasoline and Diesel Using Integrated Hydropyrolysis and Hydroconversion

Technical Report · Wed Jan 02 00:00:00 EST 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1059031· OSTI ID:1059031

Marker, Terry ^[1]; Roberts, Michael ^[1]; Linck, Martin ^[1]; Felix, Larry ^[1]; Ortiz-Toral, Pedro ^[1]; Wangerow, Jim ^[1]; Kraus, Larry ^[2]; McLeod, Celeste ^[2]; DelPaggio, Alan ^[2]; Tan, Eric ^[3]; Gephart, John ^[4]; Gromov, Dmitri ^[5]; Purtle, Ian ^[5]; Starr, Jack ^[5]; Hahn, John ^[5]; Dorrington, Paul ^[6]; Stevens, James ^[7]; Shonnard, David ^[8]; Maleche, Edwin ^[8]

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1. Gas Technology Inst., Des Plaines, IL (United States)
2. CRI-Criterion, Houston, TX (United States)
3. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
4. Johnson Timber, Hayward, WI (United States)
5. Cargill, Wayzata, MN (United States)
6. Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, Nelson (New Zealand)
7. Blue Marble Biomaterials, Missoula, MT (United States)
8. Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)

Cellulosic and woody biomass can be directly converted to hydrocarbon gasoline and diesel blending components through the use of integrated hydropyrolysis plus hydroconversion (IH²). The IH² gasoline and diesel blending components are fully compatible with petroleum based gasoline and diesel, contain less than 1% oxygen and have less than 1 total acid number (TAN). The IH² gasoline is high quality and very close to a drop in fuel. The DOE funding enabled rapid development of the IH² technology from initial proof-of-principle experiments through continuous testing in a 50 kg/day pilot plant. As part of this project, engineering work on IH² has also been completed to design a 1 ton/day demonstration unit and a commercial-scale 2000 ton/day IH² unit. These studies show when using IH² technology, biomass can be converted directly to transportation quality fuel blending components for the same capital cost required for pyrolysis alone, and a fraction of the cost of pyrolysis plus upgrading of pyrolysis oil. Technoeconomic work for IH² and lifecycle analysis (LCA) work has also been completed as part of this DOE study and shows IH² technology can convert biomass to gasoline and diesel blending components for less than $2.00/gallon with greater than 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. As a result of the work completed in this DOE project, a joint development agreement was reached with CRI Catalyst Company to license the IH² technology. Further larger-scale, continuous testing of IH² will be required to fully demonstrate the technology, and funding for this is recommended. The IH² biomass conversion technology would reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil, reduce the price of transportation fuels, and significantly lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It is a breakthrough for the widespread conversion of biomass to transportation fuels.

• Research Organization: Gas Technology Institute, Des Plaines, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Contributing Organization: CRI-Criterion, Houston, TX (United States); National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Johnson Timber, Hayward, WI (United States); Cargill, Wayzata, MN (United States); Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation, Nelson (New Zealand); Blue Marble Biomaterials, Missoula, MT (United States); Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: EE0002873
• OSTI ID: 1059031
• Report Number(s): DOE-EE0002873
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
10 SYNTHETIC FUELS
biomass
gasoline
diesel
hydropyrolysis
hydroconversion