(675c) Advanced Biofuel from Various Lignocellulosic Feedstocks By Liquid Phase Pyrolysis - the Biocrack Pilot Plant

Advanced biofuel from various lignocellulosic feedstocks by
liquid phase pyrolysis - the bioCRACK pilot plant

¹J. Ritzberger, ¹P. Pucher, ²N.
Schwaiger, ²M. Siebenhofer

¹BDI ? Bioenergy International AG, Parkring 18, 8042 Grambach,
Austria, e-mail: juergen.ritzberger@bdi-bioenergy.com

²Graz University of Technology,
Institute of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Technology, Inffeldgasse
25/C/II, 8010 Graz

Currently almost all commercial available
biofuels compete with food and animal feed production. Advanced biofuels are
expected to be produced from non-food feedstock. They will play an important
role in generation of renewable liquid energy carriers. The bioCRACK process
represents a biomass-to-liquid concept for generating advanced biofuels, technologically
based on liquid phase pyrolysis. Spruce wood, wheat straw, beech wood and
miscanthus is the selected lignocellulosic feedstock. Preferred heat carrier is
vacuum gas oil, an intermediate from vacuum distillation of crude oil. Lignocellulosic
biomass is processed in vacuum gas oil at temperatures of 350°C to 400°C and
ambient pressure. During
liquid phase pyrolysis the feed is transferred into hydrocarbons, liquid
CHO-products, reaction water, biochar and gaseous products. Technology as well as the type of heat
carrier suggest integration of the process in an oil refining concept. Crude
products from liquid phase pyrolysis and the spent heat carrier can be upgraded
in existing facilities of the refinery. For instance, the crude product is
upgradeable to diesel fuel via hydrogenation.

From 2012 to 2014 a fully integrated bioCRACK
pilot plant with a design capacity of 100 kg/h was in continuous operation at
the OMV oil refinery in Schwechat/Austria. Within two and a half year of
intensive research the influence of various lignocellulosic feedstocks (spruce
wood, beech wood, wheat straw and miscanthus), different biomass impregnation (high
and low boiling refinery intermediates), operation parameters, yield and composition of the
products, the mutual interaction of the feed and the heat carrier and the
impact of process conditions and products on the refining process have been
investigated.

Within the design temperature span (350 °C
to 400 °C) the liquid phase pyrolysis of the deployed feedstocks showed
comparable results. Mass balances and C¹⁴-tracking confirmed
bio-carbon transfer from lignocellulosic feed into crude product fuels of 10 to
20 %. 9% to 18 % of the bio-carbon is transferred into the heat carrier. It was
shown that the combined conversion of lignocellulosic and vacuum gas oil by
liquid phase pyrolysis has an accelerating impact on the decomposition of the
heat carrier oil. In conclusion the bioCRACK process may significantly contribute
to providing advanced biofuels from lignocellulosic biomass as well as
generation of low molecular weight intermediates from vacuum gas oil.