(111a) Scaling Up Sustainable Petrochemicals

One of the main aspects of promising solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable energy production has been green petrochemicals. Derived from renewable and sustainable sources, such as biomass, plastics and civic waste streams, petrochemicals are processed using advanced technologies to produce fuels and chemicals with low environmental impact. To replace conventional fossil fuels from the transportation and industrial sectors, renewable gasoline, diesel, and sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) have been proposed as the candidates with the highest potential.

At SwRI, we have integrated teams working on all facets of renewable petrochemicals and related infrastructure developed for real-world fuel producers. Our expertise ranges over thermochemical methods for conventional and unconventional feedstock cracking and conversions facilitated by scaled-up isomerization and hydrotreating technologies to obtain refined fuels while achieving the desired properties and quality standards. Simultaneously, SwRI also works on engine testing and required adaptations for such renewable fuels. Renewable gasoline and diesel are characteristically like their fossil fuel counterparts and thus can be used as standalone fuels or blended with fossil fuels in internal combustion engines.

Sustainable aviation fuels require a more stringent approach to design and performance requirements of the aviation industry. We have prior experience in producing SAFs from feedstocks like biomass, municipal solid waste and plastics as well as upgrading from petroleum sources. SAFs have been approved for commercial flights and have already demonstrated significant reduction in greenhouse emissions. Through numerous and diverse projects completed over decades SwRI promotes an achievable and sustainable energy and material economy. This presentation will cover the different facets of scaling-up and upgrading different feedstocks to renewable petrochemicals while competing with fossil-based petrochemicals.