Tracking Renewable Carbon in Bio-oil/crude Co-processing with VGO Through 13C/12C Ratio Analysis†

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2020 · Fuel

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2020.117770· OSTI ID:1638920

Li, Zhenghua ^[1]; Magrini, Kimberly A. ^[2]; Wang, Huamin ^[3]; Maltsev, Oleg v. ^[1]; Geeza, Thomas J. ^[1]; Mora, Claudia I. ^[1]; Lee, James ^[1]

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1. Los Alamos National Laboratory
2. National Renewable Energy Laboratory
3. BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)

Biomass-derived pyrolosis oil (aka. Bio-oil ) contains high oxygen and other heteroatoms that prevent it from being directly used as a conventional fuel due to its thermal instability, non-volatility and corrosivity. Co-processing the bio-oil with vacuum gas oil (VGO, a petroleum refining feedstock) leverages the existing petroleum refining infrastructure which significantly reduces Capex for the bio-oil pathway. Increasing renewable carbon incorporation into conventional fuels is a critical step in biofuels development and adoption. To take advantage of this approach, a fast, economic and accurate method with a potenial online monitoring capability is needed for tracking the renewable carbon through processing and then using the information to guide optimization of the co-processing parameters to maximize renewable carbon incorporation in fuel products. Here, we have developed a high-precision analytical protocol that enables accurate 13C/12C ratio analysis for bio-oil/crude samples. Our study demonstrates that high-precision 13C/12C ratio analysis can be a viable way to track renewable carbon incorporation in bio-oil coprocessing products including the feedstock derived from C3 plants and guide the optimization of the co-processing parameters. Comparison of ?13C with radiocarbon (14C) results obtained by an accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) reveals a significant correlation (R² = 0.998) and confirms ?13C applicability for tracking renewable carbon in coprocessing systems. Because C4 plant-derived bio-oils (-13‰) possesess more distinct ?13C values than C3 plant derived bio-oils (-26‰) relative to VGO (~ -30‰), the use of C4 plant-derived feedstock will greatly increase the renewable C traceability through 13C/12C ratio analysis in bio-oil co-processing.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1638920
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-152626
• Journal Information: Fuel, Journal Name: Fuel Vol. 275
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English