Periodic Reporting for period 2 - IDEALFUEL (Lignin as a feedstock for renewable marine fuels)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-11-01 al 2022-10-31
The EU H2020 project IDEALFUEL aims to develop an efficient and low-cost chemical pathway to convert lignocellulosic biomass into a Biogenic Heavy Fuel Oil (Bio-HFO) with ultra-low sulphur levels that can be used as drop-in fuel in the existing maritime fleet.
Shipping is crucial for the transportation of goods around the world. However, the use of heavy fuel oils (HFOs) contributes to global warming due their fossil origin. This and local emissions, also lead to bans of the use of HFOs in the national waters of many countries. Although cleaner fuels are available, many companies opt for HFOs due to their low costs. Due to these environmental concerns and national as well as international regulations associated with fossil based HFOs, there is a considerable need for low-cost cleaner and renewable alternatives for the maritime sector. This is where the EU H2020 project IDEALFUEL comes into play, where methods to convert lignocellulosic biomass into renewable marine fuels (Bio-HFO) will be developed. This will be achieved by the strategy to first extract lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as a Crude Lignin Oil (CLO) and to convert the CLO - in a second chemical step - into a Bio-HFO. IDEALFUEL’s ambition is to develop new technologies, solutions and processes from the current lab-scale (TRL3) via bench-scale (TRL4) to pilot scale (TRL5) and to prove the performance and compatibility of the Bio-HFO over the whole blending range in maritime fuel systems and marine engines. This includes a safety evaluation, which is necessary for the approval by the relevant regulatory bodies. The overall project objectives are:
1. To develop and validate lignin oil extraction processes leading to CLO, C5 sugars (derived from lignin fraction or hemicellulose) and a solid cellulose fraction
2. To develop and validate a selective, low temperature and efficient hydrotreating / hydrodeoxygenation process for the CLO product fraction
3. To assess the compatibility of the Bio-HFO with existing fuel supply systems and engines
4. To define a blending strategy for hydrotreated CLO products
5. To develop process designs for regional/local extraction of Crude Lignin Oil from lignocellulosic biomass, separation of the cellulose and other fractions and processing (hydrotreating) of CLO in a central bio-refinery to a drop-in renewable Bio-HFO
6. To perform a Life Cycle Assessment on the supply and value chain to quantify the overall impact of the process(es) on the environment
7. To develop a blueprint for stepwise implementation of Bio-HFO in the shipping sector.
Shipping is crucial for the transportation of goods around the world. However, the use of heavy fuel oils (HFOs) contributes to global warming due their fossil origin. This and local emissions, also lead to bans of the use of HFOs in the national waters of many countries. Although cleaner fuels are available, many companies opt for HFOs due to their low costs. Due to these environmental concerns and national as well as international regulations associated with fossil based HFOs, there is a considerable need for low-cost cleaner and renewable alternatives for the maritime sector. This is where the EU H2020 project IDEALFUEL comes into play, where methods to convert lignocellulosic biomass into renewable marine fuels (Bio-HFO) will be developed. This will be achieved by the strategy to first extract lignin from lignocellulosic biomass as a Crude Lignin Oil (CLO) and to convert the CLO - in a second chemical step - into a Bio-HFO. IDEALFUEL’s ambition is to develop new technologies, solutions and processes from the current lab-scale (TRL3) via bench-scale (TRL4) to pilot scale (TRL5) and to prove the performance and compatibility of the Bio-HFO over the whole blending range in maritime fuel systems and marine engines. This includes a safety evaluation, which is necessary for the approval by the relevant regulatory bodies. The overall project objectives are:
1. To develop and validate lignin oil extraction processes leading to CLO, C5 sugars (derived from lignin fraction or hemicellulose) and a solid cellulose fraction
2. To develop and validate a selective, low temperature and efficient hydrotreating / hydrodeoxygenation process for the CLO product fraction
3. To assess the compatibility of the Bio-HFO with existing fuel supply systems and engines
4. To define a blending strategy for hydrotreated CLO products
5. To develop process designs for regional/local extraction of Crude Lignin Oil from lignocellulosic biomass, separation of the cellulose and other fractions and processing (hydrotreating) of CLO in a central bio-refinery to a drop-in renewable Bio-HFO
6. To perform a Life Cycle Assessment on the supply and value chain to quantify the overall impact of the process(es) on the environment
7. To develop a blueprint for stepwise implementation of Bio-HFO in the shipping sector.
The overall objectives show that IDEALFUEL project covers the whole value chain from production of the Bio-HFO to engine testing and technoeconomic assessments. As such within the first reporting period the work has been focused on objectives 1 and 2: developing and validating lignin oil extraction processes; and developing and validating selective and efficient hydrotreating / hydrodeoxygenation process for the CLO. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, which limited access to labs and offices for a large part of the reporting period, the project objectives are on track and within reach.
At the present stage of the project 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 the CLO to a Bio-HFO a catalyst for an efficient hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process is being developed and tested. The first HDO catalyst design principles for sugar-free and sugar-containing methanol lignin oils have been established and the optimal conditions for HDO of softwood-derived, methanolic, and sugar-containing CLO with Ru/C commercial catalyst have been determined from lab-scale research. The performance of dedicated catalyst to produce Bio-HFO are being tested within the IDEALFUEL project. First results show that a high degree of depolymerization of CLOs via hydrotreating at remarkably mild operation conditions could be achieved. The project partners have adapted the lab-scale testing to produce mL-range solvent free bio-HFO products. The solvent-free hydrotreating products displays notably lower O content than the starting lignin oil and acceptable viscosity values within HFO specifications to be used as a drop-in fuel.
Regarding the Bio-HFO material interaction, fuel stability, combustion and engine testing the fuel analysis methods to be used within IDEALFUEL have been defined. The planned work in this area of research is currently focussing on the testing of the defined baseline fuels. This will shift in the upcoming reporting period towards the developed Bio-HFO. The involved partners have been adapted their test benches in such way that they can be used to test all the baseline fuels and the new Bio-HFO and as a drop-in. The preparation for the combustion testing and modelling of the Bio-HFO is on track as planned. Within IDEALFUEL the combustion performance of the Bio-HFO is tested from a fundamental scale (e.g. fuel injection) up to a large single cylinder engine (based on a WinGD X52 engine of about 2 MW).
Finally, the impact of the various regulations and legislative aspects have been assessed on the Bio-HFO market introduction, especially regarding constraints from a European and Scandinavian (European Economic Area) perspective.
At the present stage of the project 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 the CLO to a Bio-HFO a catalyst for an efficient hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process is being developed and tested. The first HDO catalyst design principles for sugar-free and sugar-containing methanol lignin oils have been established and the optimal conditions for HDO of softwood-derived, methanolic, and sugar-containing CLO with Ru/C commercial catalyst have been determined from lab-scale research. The performance of dedicated catalyst to produce Bio-HFO are being tested within the IDEALFUEL project. First results show that a high degree of depolymerization of CLOs via hydrotreating at remarkably mild operation conditions could be achieved. The project partners have adapted the lab-scale testing to produce mL-range solvent free bio-HFO products. The solvent-free hydrotreating products displays notably lower O content than the starting lignin oil and acceptable viscosity values within HFO specifications to be used as a drop-in fuel.
Regarding the Bio-HFO material interaction, fuel stability, combustion and engine testing the fuel analysis methods to be used within IDEALFUEL have been defined. The planned work in this area of research is currently focussing on the testing of the defined baseline fuels. This will shift in the upcoming reporting period towards the developed Bio-HFO. The involved partners have been adapted their test benches in such way that they can be used to test all the baseline fuels and the new Bio-HFO and as a drop-in. The preparation for the combustion testing and modelling of the Bio-HFO is on track as planned. Within IDEALFUEL the combustion performance of the Bio-HFO is tested from a fundamental scale (e.g. fuel injection) up to a large single cylinder engine (based on a WinGD X52 engine of about 2 MW).
Finally, the impact of the various regulations and legislative aspects have been assessed on the Bio-HFO market introduction, especially regarding constraints from a European and Scandinavian (European Economic Area) perspective.
The IDEALFUEL strategy for delivering an efficient and low-cost chemical pathway to convert lignocellulosic biomass into a Bio-HFO with ultra-low sulphur levels that can be used as drop-in fuel in the existing maritime fleet has a tremendous potential for the widespread adoption of the project fuel by the marine fuel sector. The IDEALFUEL consortium will ensure this impact by:
• developing efficient chemical processes to produce the fuel from biomass
• producing a drop-in fuel that is low in cost
• producing a fuel that can be used by the current marine fleet
• significantly reducing the overall GHG emissions associated to the marine transport
• significantly reducing pollution
• sparking job growth within the renewable energy sector.
To achieve this all the value chain actors, from Bio-HFO production towards exploitation, that are needed to efficiently implement the developed Bio-HFO have been involved since the beginning of the project and this approach will guarantee a wider exploitation and replication of the developed technological solutions. Details on the wider impact of the project, become available in the second and final reporting period.
• developing efficient chemical processes to produce the fuel from biomass
• producing a drop-in fuel that is low in cost
• producing a fuel that can be used by the current marine fleet
• significantly reducing the overall GHG emissions associated to the marine transport
• significantly reducing pollution
• sparking job growth within the renewable energy sector.
To achieve this all the value chain actors, from Bio-HFO production towards exploitation, that are needed to efficiently implement the developed Bio-HFO have been involved since the beginning of the project and this approach will guarantee a wider exploitation and replication of the developed technological solutions. Details on the wider impact of the project, become available in the second and final reporting period.