Hydrodeoxygenation of bio-oils from thermo-catalytic reforming - high energy efficient route to renewable gasoline and diesel

The agricultural production of energy crops is in competition to food production and discussed controversial. Therefore the academic and commercial research is focused on waste or residual biomass. A promising conversion technology for the production of high quality bio-oil, syngas and biochar from residual biomass is the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming process (TCR®); intermediate pyrolysis and integrated reforming. With an additional focus on biofuels for transportation, the downstream processing of the TCR® bio-oil offers the option to meet high standards of common fuels like gasoline or diesel. To assess the opportunities of TCR® bio-oil upgrading, hydrotreatment and rectification tests were carried out in order to produce renewable gasoline and diesel from residual or waste biomass. Product yields from hydrogenation, catalyst life and biofuel analysis gives confidence that upgrading of the TCR® bio-oil offers a suitable and efficient route to meet the high standards of common fuels with strikingly similar qualities to fossil based fractions, specifically gasoline and diesel. Furthermore the generated renewable gasoline was successfully tested in a modern EU5 passenger car engine to assess the ability of the biofuels to substitute fossil fuel. This technology opens the door to renewable fuel refining as it is known from petroleum refineries. The Thermo-Catalytic Reforming process is a key component of the Biobattery concept developed within the framework of the Center for Energy Storage (CES)