The overall objectives show that IDEALFUEL project covers the whole value chain from production of the Bio-HFO to engine testing and technoeconomic assessments.
The major achievements have been on the production side of the Bio-HFO. For that essential measurement protocols have been developed for the determination of viscosity and oxygen content of CLO and Bio-HFO compositions across the different partners. The IDEALFUEL planned roadmap is to scale-up the production capacity from gram scale to tonnes scale within the lifetime of the project. This is a huge challenge, and the involved partners are on track, since the kg scale CLO production in 300 L reactor has been implemented. This kg-scale production emphasis on optimizing process efficiency, reproducibility and quality of finished product complied with marine fuel regulations. This information on a kg-scale is crucial to increase the production volume towards tonnes scale successfully. Also, a significant effort is going into the optimisation of lignin production, depolymerisation, design and implementation of workup processes to isolate oligomers. Here we achieved a production capacity of >10kg of Aldehyde-Assisted Fractionation (AAF) lignin and a depolymerisation of >1kg of lignin.
To convert CLO into Bio-HFO, a catalyst for an efficient hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process is being developed and tested. The first design principles for HDO catalysts tailored for sugar-free and sugar-containing methanol lignin oils have been established. Lab-scale research has also determined the optimal conditions for the HDO of softwood-derived, methanolic, and sugar-containing CLO using a commercial Ru/C catalyst.
Within the IDEALFUEL project, dedicated catalysts for Bio-HFO production are being tested. Initial results demonstrate that a high degree of CLO depolymerization via hydrotreating can be achieved under remarkably mild operating conditions. Project partners have adapted lab-scale testing to produce milliliter-range, solvent-free Bio-HFO products. These hydrotreating products exhibit significantly lower oxygen content than the starting lignin oil and meet acceptable viscosity specifications for HFO, making them suitable as drop-in fuels.
Regarding Bio-HFO material interaction, fuel stability, combustion, and engine testing, fuel analysis methods have been defined within IDEALFUEL. Current research efforts are focused on testing the defined baseline fuels. However, upscaling the technology has presented significant challenges due to the operating conditions required that cannot be achieved by various available reactors in Europe.
However, the project partners have modified their test benches to accommodate testing of both baseline fuels and newly developed Bio-HFO as a drop-in fuel. Preparations for Bio-HFO combustion testing and modeling have progressed as planned. Initially, IDEALFUEL aimed to evaluate Bio-HFO combustion performance across multiple scales, from fundamental fuel injection studies to testing in a large single-cylinder engine (based on a 2 MW WinGD X52 engine). However, due to the challenges in upscaling production, insufficient Bio-HFO was available for real engine testing. Instead, extensive CFD simulations “digital-twin” have been conducted to assess Bio-HFO performance in engine conditions.
Finally, the impact of various regulations and legislative aspects on Bio-HFO market introduction has been assessed, with a particular focus on constraints within Europe and the European Economic Area, including Scandinavia.
