(284c) Beyond Ethanol: Decentralized Pyrolysis and Electrocatalysis for Producing Hydrocarbon Fuels

Beyond Ethanol:  Decentralized Pyrolysis and Electrocatalysis for Producing Hydrocarbon Fuels

Authors: Christopher M. Saffron, James E. Jackson, Zhenglong Li, Chun Ho Lam, Mahlet Garedew, Nichole Erickson, Shantanu Kelkar

Carbon and energy efficient strategies are needed for producing hydrocarbon fuels from biomass.  Even under the best of scenarios, the U.S. biomass potential may only be able to produce 60% of the carbon and 50% of the energy that is currently fueled by petroleum.  Fast pyrolysis provides one method for making hydrocarbon fuels from plant biomass in an efficient manner as lignin is also liquefied to a fuel intermediate.   Bio-oil, the liquid product of fast pyrolysis, has increased bulk density when compared to biomass and is less expensive to transport long distances. However, bio-oil properties include self reactivity to form viscous sludge and reactivity with metal surfaces causing corrosion. A traditional method for upgrading bio-oil involves molecular hydrogen and solid catalysts under high pressures and temperatures.  Though precedent for implementation exists at petroleum refineries for crude oil, deployment in decentralized facilities is hindered by the lack of molecular hydrogen, the cost of high pressure equipment and the safety of operation.  As chemical reduction is needed to saturate carbon-carbon and carbon-oxygen double bonds, methods that overcome the need for molecular hydrogen, that do not require high pressures during operation, and that can be run safely offer considerable advantages.  We propose the partial upgrading (stabilization) of bio-oil using electrocatalysis, an approach where electricity serves as the reducing agent. The merits of a decentralized bioenergy system that uses fast pyrolysis and electrocatalysis in community biomass processing depots will be discussed.