Fast pyrolysis of biomass, improving the oil quality.

1. Water addition Water, minerals, acetic acid, glycol aldehyde, acetol etc.. Pretreatment (Washing + drying) Sugars Aromatics Biomass Condenser 1 Condenser 2 Separation Char Combustor Non condensable gasses Heat Pyrolysis Reactor Fast pyrolysis of biomass,improving the oil quality. PhD. Student: Stijn Oudenhoven Phone: +31 (0)53 4894418 Thesis advisor: Prof. dr. S.R.A. Kersten E-mail: s.r.g.oudenhoven@utwente.nl Supervisor: dr. ir. R.J.M. Westerhof URL: www.utwente.nl/tnw/spt Research group: TNW/SPT Research school: OSPT Supported by: CatchBio Period: feb 2012-jan 2016 Introduction: Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a promising technique to depolymerize lignocellulosic biomass, this is required to produce fuels and chemicals from biomass. During pyrolysis biomass decomposes at elevated temperatures and in the absence of oxygen into gasses, oil and char. The pyrolysis oil is a complex mixture of water and a large variety of oxygenated organic compounds. The composition of the oil is determined by the biomass feedstock, process conditions and pyrolysis oil handling. Pyrolysis oil has the potential to be used directly as fuel for stationary engines, boilers or turbines to produce heat and electricity. Moreover it can be used as intermediate for the production of transportation fuels and chemicals. Levoglucosan, a pyrolysis product from cellulose, is an interesting compound that can be hydrolysed into glucose and/or directly fermented into bio ethanol or lipids. Figure 1: Proposed pyrolysis process • Objective: Stijn is working within the CatchBio project “Catalytic steps in the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass via pyrolysis to fuel precursors”. In this project his goal is to develop methods to improve the oil quality already within the pyrolysis process to improve further processing. • Results: We developed a process concept to increase the oil and especially sugar (levoglu-cosan) yields. This is achieved by demineralizing the biomass before pyrolysis, increasing the cellulose decomposition selectivity towards levoglucosan. The biomass is demineralized using an organic acid stream, produced and concentrated within the same process. Moreover staged condensation of the pyrolysis vapors is applied to obtain a first separation already within the process. The product streams of the process are concentrated in (fermentable) sugars, aromatics and light oxygenates which can be used as feed for the bio and petrochemical industry. • Current research topics: • • Removal of metal ions from biomass using organic acids. • • Study the primary reactions of cellulose decomposition. • • Techno/economical evaluation of proposed process. • Reference: Oudenhoven, S.R.G., et al., Demineralization of wood using wood-derived acid: Towards a selective pyrolysis process for fuel and chemicals production. J ANAL APPL PYROL, 2013. 103(0): p. 112-118.