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Title: Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis

Abstract

Biofuels production from lignocellulosic biomass is hindered by high conversion costs in the generation of high-quality fuels, driving research towards the development of new pathways with less severe conditions, higher yields and higher-quality products. In this report, we present a market-responsive biorefinery concept based on methanol as the key intermediate, which generates high-octane gasoline (HOG) and jet fuel blendstocks from biomass. Process models and techno-economic analysis are linked with both fundamental and applied catalyst development research to quantify the impact of catalyst advancements on process economics. By facilitating reincorporation of C4 by-products during dimethyl ether homologation, a Cu-modified beta zeolite catalyst enabled a 38% increase in yield of the HOG product and a 35% reduction in conversion cost compared to the benchmark beta zeolite catalyst. Alternatively, C4 by-products were directed to a synthetic kerosene that met five specifications for a typical jet fuel, with a small increase in the fuel synthesis cost versus the HOG-only case.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [2];  [2]
  1. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1544996
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5100-72206
Journal ID: ISSN 2520-1158
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Catalysis
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2520-1158
Publisher:
Springer Nature
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
09 BIOMASS FUELS; 37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; high octane gasoline; alkane dehydrogenation; market responsive biorefinery

Citation Formats

Ruddy, Daniel A., Hensley, Jesse E., Nash, Connor P., Tan, Eric C. D., Christensen, Earl, Farberow, Carrie A., Baddour, Frederick G., Van Allsburg, Kurt M., and Schaidle, Joshua A. Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2.
Ruddy, Daniel A., Hensley, Jesse E., Nash, Connor P., Tan, Eric C. D., Christensen, Earl, Farberow, Carrie A., Baddour, Frederick G., Van Allsburg, Kurt M., & Schaidle, Joshua A. Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2
Ruddy, Daniel A., Hensley, Jesse E., Nash, Connor P., Tan, Eric C. D., Christensen, Earl, Farberow, Carrie A., Baddour, Frederick G., Van Allsburg, Kurt M., and Schaidle, Joshua A. 2019. "Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1544996.
@article{osti_1544996,
title = {Methanol to high-octane gasoline within a market-responsive biorefinery concept enabled by catalysis},
author = {Ruddy, Daniel A. and Hensley, Jesse E. and Nash, Connor P. and Tan, Eric C. D. and Christensen, Earl and Farberow, Carrie A. and Baddour, Frederick G. and Van Allsburg, Kurt M. and Schaidle, Joshua A.},
abstractNote = {Biofuels production from lignocellulosic biomass is hindered by high conversion costs in the generation of high-quality fuels, driving research towards the development of new pathways with less severe conditions, higher yields and higher-quality products. In this report, we present a market-responsive biorefinery concept based on methanol as the key intermediate, which generates high-octane gasoline (HOG) and jet fuel blendstocks from biomass. Process models and techno-economic analysis are linked with both fundamental and applied catalyst development research to quantify the impact of catalyst advancements on process economics. By facilitating reincorporation of C4 by-products during dimethyl ether homologation, a Cu-modified beta zeolite catalyst enabled a 38% increase in yield of the HOG product and a 35% reduction in conversion cost compared to the benchmark beta zeolite catalyst. Alternatively, C4 by-products were directed to a synthetic kerosene that met five specifications for a typical jet fuel, with a small increase in the fuel synthesis cost versus the HOG-only case.},
doi = {10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1544996}, journal = {Nature Catalysis},
issn = {2520-1158},
number = 7,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Mon Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 20 works
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Figures / Tables:

Figure 1 Figure 1: Schematic flow diagram of a market-responsive biorefinery concept. Biomass gasification and methanol production can provide a variety of fuels – gasoline (hydrocarbon), diesel (DME), marine (MeOH and/or hydrocarbon), and/or jet (hydrocarbon) – enabled by catalysis.

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Works referenced in this record:

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Figures/Tables have been extracted from DOE-funded journal article accepted manuscripts.