The US Department of Energy (DOE) issued a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for up to $7 million over two years (FY 2008 – 2009) to support advanced research and development in converting non-food based biomass to low-cost bio-oils. Combined with private minimum cost share of 20%, up to $8.75 million would be invested in this research effort.
Recent research has shown that upgrading bio-oils (pyrolysis oil) produced by fast pyrolysis to fungible hydrocarbon fuels—such as gasoline and diesel—by employing conventional petroleum refining techniques, such as hydrotreating and hydrocracking, is a promising pathway for alternate fuels. However, pyrolysis oil has long-term storage stability issues that need to be addressed for this upgrading technology to be commercially viable. In this FOA, DOE is specifically soliciting applications for the development of technology capable of stabilizing the bio-oils.
Under appropriate pyrolysis operating conditions, biomass can be converted to relatively high yields (~70 wt %) of liquids—a mixture of organic compounds (pyrolysis oil) and water. The liquid organics are oxygenated hydrocarbon compounds resulting from the thermal breakdown of lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose.
Collectively, pyrolysis oil is comprised of a complex mixture of acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones, sugars, phenols, furans, and multifunctional compounds such as hydroxyacetaldehyde. The relative amounts of each compound class can vary depending on the biomass feedstock used and the operating conditions employed during pyrolysis.
These characteristics present practical problems in the storage, transport, and processing of pyrolysis oils prior to and during their upgrading to hydrocarbon fuels.
DOE is seeking technical approaches to producing pyrolysis oil with a stability enabling the resulting pyrolysis oil to be transported and stored, in commercial scale tankage, for at least six months under ambient conditions.
Resources Biomass Fast Pyrolysis Oil (Bio-oil) Stabilization
