Catalytic Upgrading Process of Ligno-cellulose Derived Heavy Crude Oil
Date
2018-05-22
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The high oxygen content of lignocellulose-derived bio-crudes results in thermal instability, corrosiveness, and low energy density in comparison to petroleum fuels. A pioneer Catalytic Upgrading Process is investigated in this thesis through a first-of-a-kind combination of two hydrogen addition processes, namely a first hydrogenation step and a second steam-cracking step producing lighter fractions and hydrogen. The preliminary effect of operating conditions was evaluated for each process using a fixed-bed reactor configuration. First, a Hydrotreating process at 320oC, 0.20h-1, and 1400-psig that achieved 59% hydro-deoxygenation, and >98% total acid number reduction was implemented. Complementarily, Catalytic Steam Cracking as secondary process completed desired conversion to petroleum equivalents of 5.6% Naphtha (IBP-190oC), 12.8% Jet-fuel (190-260oC) and 25.6% Diesel (260-343oC) range hydrocarbons, supplying hydrogen by the catalytic splitting of water, thus omitting the requirements for costly hydrogen sources or high-pressure equipment as in Hydrocracking processes. One novelty relies on the recycle of unconsumed hydrogen, at least partially sourcing the hydrotreater’s hydrogen consumption.
Description
Keywords
Catalysis, Upgrading, Lignocellulose, Biomass, Heavy Crude Oil, Hydrotreating, Steam Cracking, Bio-oil, Bio-crude, Hydrogen, Catalytic, Process, Lignocellulosic Biomass
Citation
Trujillo, M. I. (2018). Catalytic Upgrading Process of Ligno-cellulose Derived Heavy Crude Oil (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca. doi:10.11575/PRISM/31956