(648b) Integrated Bio-Refineries of Biocrude Oil Converted from Wet Bio-Waste Via Hydrothermal Liquefaction into Drop-in Fuel and Value-Added Chemical

Biorefineries of biocrude oil products converted from wet biowastes such as swine manure and algae via hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) are in need of a comprehensive understanding. The goal of this study is to develop multi-phase bio-refineries to expedite the downstream application of biocrude oil into drop-in transportation fuels and value added chemicals, such as nitrogen-doped hydrocarbon electric materials. Our previous study showed that biocrude converted from wet biowaste, such as swine manure, food waste, and mixed-culture algae from wastewater via HTL, contain appreciable higher heating values (HHV) ranging 32-38 MJ/kg, while the HHV of ethanol and gasoline are respectively about 29 MJ/kg and 45 MJ/kg. However, the relatively high concentration of impurities in the biocrude oil, mainly nitrogen (3-7%), oxygen (about 10%) and moisture content (up to 20%), remain problematic that needs to be addressed in order to utilize this source as transportation fuels. Moreover, these impurities will result in NO_x emission and corrosion to the engine when used as transportation fuels. As a consequence, further upgrading or separation of the biocrude oil products is critically needed. Several previous studies have demonstrated that catalysts (e.g. zeolites, Pt/C, Raney-Ni, Rh etc.) have little impact on upgrading the biocrude oil when the reaction temperature was below 500 °C. On the contrary, it was reported that after proper separation, such as distillation, the oxygen content in the biocrude oil could be reduced to 5% and the heating values could be increased up to 41-45 MJ/kg, which indicates that there is a high potential to utilize these biocrude oil products as drop-in fuels. This study aims to utilize a pilot scale plug-flow reactor to produce 8-10 gallons of biocrude oil and separate biocrude oil products into drop-in transportation fuels and value-added chemicals with distillation. Preliminary study shows that about 60% of the biocurde product can be distilled out before 250 °C. Distillation curve is also recorded and will be compared to that of jet fuel, diesel and lubricant oil. Elemental and GC-MS analyses demonstrates that the distillate fractions collected between 200-250 °C have similar chemical properties to diesel. Heating values and densities of distillate products were also measured. The non-distillable products were also examined in terms of elemental compositions and SEM microscopy. Physiochemical characterization suggests that the non-distillable products may serve as carbon-based adsorbents or nitrogen-doped electrical capacitors.