skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Stabilization of Bio-Oil Fractions for Insertion into Petroleum Refineries

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1157587· OSTI ID:1157587
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [3]
  1. Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
  2. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)

This project is part of a collaboration effort between Iowa State University (ISU), University of Oklahoma (OK) and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). The purpose of this project is to stabilize bio-oil fractions and improve their suitability for insertion into petroleum refineries. Bio-oil from fast pyrolysis of biomass is a complex mixture of unstable organic compounds. These organic compounds react under standard room conditions resulting in increases in bio-oil viscosity and water content – both detrimental for bio-oil storage and transportation. This study employed fractionation and upgrading systems to improve the stability of bio-oil. The fractionation system consists of a series of condensers, and electrostatic precipitators designed to separate bio-oil into five fractions: soluble carbohydrates (SF1&2), clean phenolic oligomers (CPO) and middle fraction (SF3&4), light oxygenates (SF5). A two-stage upgrading process was designed to process bio-oil stage fractions into stable products that can be inserted into a refinery. In the upgrading system, heavy and middle bio-oil fractions were upgraded into stable oil via cracking and subsequent hydrodeoxygenation. The light oxygenate fraction was steam reformed to provide a portion of requisite hydrogen for hydroprocessing. Hydrotreating and hydrocracking employed hydrogen from natural gas, fuel gas and light oxygenates reforming. The finished products from this study consist of gasoline- and diesel-blend stock fuels.

Research Organization:
Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
Contributing Organization:
Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
EE0006066
OSTI ID:
1157587
Report Number(s):
DOE-ISU-EE0006066-FINAL
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English