(420f) Integration of Fast Pyrolysis and Electrolyzer for Deoxygenation of Biomass

Domestically, the US is challenged with improving the environment, energy security, and energy productivity, thus many efforts are concerted in utilizing biomass as a viable source of renewable liquid transportation fuels and contributing to a robust carbon-neutral energy production. However, achieving a high carbon, hydrogen and overall energy efficiency is an ongoing challenge for current biomass upgrading technologies. The main approach of upgrading biomass to hydrocarbon fuels is by hydroprocessing, which relies heavily on large hydrogen consumption and on large, more centralized production scales. In this work, we present a different approach of using distributed pyrolysis unit scale with low hydrogen requirement by utilizing electricity to drive the deoxygenation of molecules present in the biomass. Currently, we have demonstrated the feasibility of electrochemical deoxygenation using solid oxide electrolysis cell in small cells, multi-cell stacks, and in an integrated test with a bench-scale fast pyrolysis unit. The electrolysis process removes oxygen from the oxygenated organic molecule as well as from steam to produce hydrogen in-situ allowing for a distributed, small scale integrated upgrading unit. Specifically, we will report recent work with a fast pyrolysis unit with 1 kg/h ponderosa pine feed, 480 deg C fast pyrolysis temperature and 550-600 deg C process at the electrolyzer. These process conditions allowed us to achieve an improved quality of the bio-oil. In this presentation, we will also discuss the present challenges of electrolyzer integration with a fast pyrolysis unit as well as the characterization of products using ¹³CNMR, ultimate analysis (CHNOS), and GC-MS.