Final year of the BIOCOUP project: Next generation biofuels by incorporating biomass at the refining stage
BIOCOUP and other projects are necessary, because the EU and member states have agreed on the need to increase the amount of biofuels for transportation in order to reduce CO2 emissions and EU’s dependency on imported fuels. BIOCOUP’s goal is an integrated chain from non-food biomass such as waste wood to transportation biofuels. This occurs via fast pyrolysis of the biomass resulting in a bio–oil, followed by upgrading and co-processing of the liquid in a conventional oil refinery unit and valorisation of the oxygenated chemical components. It has been found that: • 1000 kg of pyrolysis oil with a representative composition has been successfully produced under controlled conditions. • Hydrogenation to partially remove oxygen is an effective upgrading route. • Co-processing this upgraded pyrolysis oil in either lab scale FCC units or continuous hydrotreating units affords bio-hydrocarbons from a lignocellulosic (i.e. forest residues or pine) feed. • Isolation and fractionation of selected key chemicals has been extensively investigated. Some of these products have been used as bio-replacements in further lab scale mimics of industrial processes. • An overall scenario analysis on the biomass to final products chain has been used to assess the technical, economic performance and to establish a life cycle analysis (GHG). Preliminary economics indicate that whilst the option is not competitive with conventional fuels at current prices, it has a positive net present value when the price of gasoline is 1.7 times higher than now. • In parallel with these results, fundamental understanding of these complex processes, (mechanisms, molecular impact of coprocessing, rules for fractionation and separation etc) is rapidly progressing through various experiments including use of model molecules and catalysts, and determing the fate of the biocomponent by Accelerated Mass Spectrometry. The next steps A 1 kg/hour Process Development Unit (PDU) has been built. This will produce sufficient upgraded pyrolysis oil for testing in bench scale refinery units and will produce enough product for testing its compatibility with conventional gasoline and diesel. If these last evaluations were positive, a seamless integration of bio-refinery co-processing products (transport fuel and chemicals) could be possible. ,. This could also provide an important stimulus to biomass acceptance and further technological development of biomass-based conversion routes. For further details, please visit: http://www.biocoup.eu(opens in new window).
Countries
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Spain, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, United Kingdom