(22d) Process Intensification and Reactor Design for Efficient SAF Production

Bioenergy continues to attract considerable attention as a potential solution to national and global concerns regarding climate change, sustainable energy, and energy independence/security. Indeed, the US Department of Energy has recently released a Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) Grand Challenge with aggressive targets in 2030 and 2050 for the domestic production of SAF. Meeting this challenge will require the development of new materials and processes along with the underlying process science and engineering to enable to scale up and deployment of these technologies.

In this paper, we will review in situ catalytic fast pyrolysis (CFP) as an effective technology for the production of SAF and other fuels and chemicals. The key considerations between in situ and ex situ CFP will be discussed from a process intensification perspective. Furthermore, modifications of NREL’s thermochemical pilot plant to enable piloting of in situ CFP technologies, along with some key challenges and developing solutions will be presented.