The Potential for Production of Fuels from Giant Miscanthus via Pyrolysis

Philip Steele

Professor and SERC

Bio-oil Thrust Leader

Sustainable Energy Research Center

Mississippi State University

Acknowledgements

• This research is based upon work funded through the

Sustainable Energy Research Center at Mississippi State

University and is supported by the Department of Energy

under Award Number DE-FG3606GO86025.

MSU bio-oil objectives:

• Develop more effective pyrolysis reactors to produce high-quality bio-oils at optimum yield

• Upgrade bio-oils to commercial liquid fuels

• Commercialize technologies by demonstration projects and industrial relationships

• Oxygen in bio-oil: 45-50% by weight– Incorporated in oxygenated compounds

• Causes most of the negative properties:– Variable viscosity– High acidity– Pungent odor– Low energy density

Bio-oil challenges:

Development effective auger pyrolysis reactors:

• Auger reactors can be built with reduced capital investment

• Auger reactors are more readily produced at small scale

Giant miscanthus pyrolysis products:

• Giant miscanthus yield is 60% vs 65% for pine wood

• Hydrocarbons can be produced from giant miscanthus bio-oil

The MSU auger reactor design is under MOU to an industrial partner:

• Prototype 10 ton/day reactor built to MSU design is producing bio-oil at 67% yield

• All benchmarks have been met and licensing should be completed during September 2010

• Construction of a 50-ton per day pyrolysis facility planned for 2012

Our proprietary HDO catalyst produces a high-quality hydrocarbon mix:

Hydrogen

Removal of oxygenated compounds

Water + HDO bio-oil

Water

Hydrocarbons

Bio-oil

• Yield is 1.1 bbl of hydrocarbons per dry ton of biomass; this represents 40% (goal = 50%) of the original energy contained in the bio-oil.

Property HDO bio-oil Diesel

Water content (wt%) 0 0

Acid value (mg KOH/g) <0.1 0

Viscosity (cSt @ 40C) 2.8  2.6 

HHV (MJ/kg) 45.2 45.8

Carbon (%) 88.6  85.1 

Hydrogen (%) 11.4  12.2 

Oxygen (%) 0 0 

Properties of HDO bio-oil vs diesel:

GC simulated distillation showing fuel components of HDO bio-oil hydrocarbon mixture:

Upgrading bio-oil :

• Lignocellulosic Boiler Fuel (LBF)

LBF combustion flame produced with a drop-in injector replacement module:

Physical and chemical properties of LBF bio-oil:

PropertyRaw

bio-oilLBF

Water Content (%) 24.2 7

Acid value ( mg KOH/g) 89 46

Viscosity (cSt @ 40 oC) 14.53 5.6

HHV (MJ/kg) 17.5 31.9

Upgraded bio-oil :

Anhydrosugars to ethanol or hydrogen

Anhydrosugar production via fast pyrolysis:

• Biomass pretreatments allow anhydrosugars to be generated in significant quantities in the aqueous fraction (MSU = 51% vs previous high of 36%; 30% increase)

• Anhydrosugars can be catalytically reformed to produce hydrogen

Levoglucosan

• Alternatively, the sugar-rich aqueous fraction can be hydrolyzed and fermented to ethanol.

Anhydrosugar production via fast pyrolysis, cont’d:

Raw

bio-oil

Raw bio-oil and fractionation products:

71%

Aqueous phase fraction

29%

Pyroligneous fraction

High percentage of anhydrosugars in bio-oil aqueous fraction (51%); GC/MS spectra:

Scan EI+ TIC

5.43e8

11112008-1

0

%

100

5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 35.00 40.00Time

1.08

1.28

2.55

2.63 2.64

2.66

4.05

4.13

5.00 6.17

7.63

8.48 9.

9710

.40

11.2

412

.09

13.3

6

14.8

315

.33

16.9

717

.81

19.0

519

.47

20.8

022

.06 22

.29

23.7

3

24.9

725

.82

27.1

727

.74 29

.07

30.2

130

.26

30.5

130

.69

31.6

632

.62

33.5

834

.44

35.2

8

36.8

638

.17

39.0

939

.93

40.7

7

Anhydrosugars

Final patent to be filed in October 2010

Raw aqueous fraction before and after filtration of inhibitors; after hydrolysis to glucose:

• We have producedethanol without problem with the hydrolyzed glucose

Future activities:

• Catalytic pyrolysis reactor design is completed and will be built by the end of the year

• A 4-ton per day auger reactor and 100-gal per day hydrotreater and esterified bio-oil production capabilities will be housed in an SERC pilot plant on MSU campus

• MSU auger reactor licensee will commercialize and scale up production based on their success with a 10-ton per day MSU design

Future activities, cont’d:

• Aqueous fraction sugars will be produced from giant miscanthus bio-oil

Philip Steele

Professor and SERC

Bio-oil Thrust Leader

Sustainable Energy Research Center

Mississippi State University

The Potential for Production of Fuels from Giant Miscanthus via Pyrolysis