Partial Upgrading of Lignocellulosic Bio-Oil via Deep Catalytic Hydrotreating

Marashi Shoushtari, Nafees Sadat

Partial Upgrading of Lignocellulosic Bio-Oil via Deep Catalytic Hydrotreating

dc.contributor.advisor	Pereira Almao, Pedro
dc.contributor.author	Marashi Shoushtari, Nafees Sadat
dc.contributor.committeemember	Clarke, Matthew
dc.contributor.committeemember	De la Hoz Siegler, Hector
dc.date	2021-11
dc.date.accessioned	2021-09-29T18:53:08Z
dc.date.available	2021-09-29T18:53:08Z
dc.date.issued	2021-09-23
dc.description.abstract	According to the International Energy Agency, bioenergy accounts for one-tenth of the world's total primary energy supply and biofuel production is forecasted to increase 25% by 2024. The bio-oil is composed of a complex mixture of oxygenated compounds with a relatively high concentration of water. Compared to crude oil, bio-oil has high oxygen content, lower energy density, high acidity, high viscosity and water content. Submitting the bio-oil to atmospheric distillation at the refinery is not possible at this stage since the highly reactive compounds in the bio-oil will plug the distillation column at high temperatures, and moreover, high temperatures will accelerate the corrosion effect of the bio-oil in the refinery lines. Therefore, an upgrading step is necessary to make the bio-oil admissible to the refinery. The ultimate goal of this research is to produce biofuel equivalent to conventional fuels from lignocellulose-derived bio-oil. The main objective of this study is to reduce the oxygen content of the bio-oil via the catalytic hydrotreating process and to improve the quality of the upgraded oil. The effect of the process variables such as operating pressure, temperature and space velocity on the product quality was studied. The best results were obtained using CAT-M5, at 1750 psig, 370 C and 0.4 h-1 space velocity resulting in 77% reduction in oxygen content, 99.5% reduction in viscosity, 100% reduction in total acid number, 55% phenol conversion and 91% residue conversion. It was found that increasing pressure, unlike temperature, does not have a noticeable effect on microcarbon residue reduction, viscosity, and boiling point distribution of the product, but it improves the degree of deoxygenation and molar H/C ratio. Moreover, at temperatures higher than 350 C, hydrocracking along with hydrogenation notably improved the residue conversion, viscosity and MCR reduction. Comparing the performance of catalysts showed that CAT-M5, unlike CAT-M3, eliminated the solid precipitation in the products thanks to its large pore size. Furthermore, CAT-M5 had a higher residue conversion rate, MCR and viscosity reduction rate. In contrast, CAT-M3 had a better performance in deoxygenation and phenol conversion.	en_US
dc.identifier.citation	Marashi Shoushtari, N. S. (2021). Partial Upgrading of Lignocellulosic Bio-Oil via Deep Catalytic Hydrotreating (Master's thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.	en_US
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/39310
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/113998
dc.language.iso	eng	en_US
dc.publisher.faculty	Schulich School of Engineering	en_US
dc.publisher.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.rights	University of Calgary graduate students retain copyright ownership and moral rights for their thesis. You may use this material in any way that is permitted by the Copyright Act or through licensing that has been assigned to the document. For uses that are not allowable under copyright legislation or licensing, you are required to seek permission.	en_US
dc.subject	Bio-Oil	en_US
dc.subject	Deep Hydrotreating	en_US
dc.subject	Catalytic Upgrading	en_US
dc.subject	Hydrodeoxygenation	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Energy	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Engineering	en_US
dc.subject.classification	Engineering--Chemical	en_US
dc.title	Partial Upgrading of Lignocellulosic Bio-Oil via Deep Catalytic Hydrotreating	en_US
dc.type	master thesis	en_US
thesis.degree.discipline	Engineering – Chemical & Petroleum	en_US
thesis.degree.grantor	University of Calgary	en_US
thesis.degree.name	Master of Science (MSc)	en_US
ucalgary.item.requestcopy	true	en_US