Advanced Biomass Catalytic Conversion to Middle Distillates in Molten Salts - H2020 Project Presentation ABC-Salt

Abstract

2nd generation biofuels gained more importance in recent years since they enable greenhouse gas emission reductions in the transport sector on a larger scale. The inputs for the ABC-Salt process are sustainable lignocellulosic waste streams. Over 900 Mt waste is produced per year in the EU, amongst which 220 Mt is sustainably available. These 220 Mt represents round about 16 % of the total European transport requirements if processed with current technologies. The EU-funded ABC-Salt project aims to develop a cost-efficient process for the conversion of waste lignocellulosic biomass including lignin-rich feeds to middle distillate hydrocarbons. This novel production route of sustainable liquid biofuels( see figure 1) is composed by three technical core elements: - The liquefaction of biomass in molten salt - Hydro-pyrolysis of the dissolved biomass - Catalytic hydro-deoxygenation of the vapour pyrolysis products. The novelty of the project is to perform liquefaction of biomass in a molten salt environment at atmospheric pressure. The aim of this new operation mode is to overcome the bottleneck of feeding biomass particles into high-pressure reactors by using molten salts as solvent and dispersing agent at mild conditions below 250 °C. The dissolved biomass in the molten salt is pressured to 10 to 50 bar in the presence of hydrogen. The temperature levels will be set to roughly 300 to 400 °C, to obtain a stabilised vapour that is easily hydro-deoxygenated. In the proposed concept biomass vapours from the hydro-pyrolysis units together with remaining hydrogen, are passed over catalyst beds at rather similar conditions as the hydro-pyrolysis reactor, to transform them into the desired middle distillate hydrocarbons by hydrocracking, hydro-deoxygenation, and isomerization reactions.