CONVERTING PYROLYSIS OILS TO RENEWABLE TRANSPORT FUELS: PROCESSING CHALLENGES & OPPORTUNITIES

To enable a sustained supply of biomass-based transportation fuels, the capability to process feedstocks outside the food chain must be developed. Significant industry efforts are underway to develop these new technologies, such as converting cellulosic wastes to ethanol. UOP, in partnership with U.S. Government labs, NREL and PNNL, is developing an alternate route using cellulosic feedstocks. The waste biomass is first subjected to a fast pyrolysis operation to generate pyrolysis oil (pyoil for short). Current efforts are focused on developing a thermochemical platform to convert pyoils to renewable gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. The fuels produced will be indistinguishable from their fossil fuel counterparts and, therefore, will be compatible with existing transport and distribution infrastructure.