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

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.

doi:10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2

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

Journal Article · Mon Jul 08 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Nature Catalysis

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41929-019-0319-2· OSTI ID:1544996

^[1];

^[1]; Nash, Connor P. ^[2];

^[2]; Christensen, Earl ^[2];

^[2]; Baddour, Frederick G. ^[2]; Van Allsburg, Kurt M. ^[2]; Schaidle, Joshua A. ^[2]

National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

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.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Sustainable Transportation Office. Bioenergy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1544996

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5100-72206

Journal Information:: Nature Catalysis, Vol. 2, Issue 7; ISSN 2520-1158

Publisher:: Springer NatureCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 20 works

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