Co-processing bio-oils with petroleum feeds to produce fuels

Co-processing bio-oils with petroleum feeds in a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) is a near-term approach for introducing renewable carbon into fuels to help reduce green-house-gas emissions in the transportation sector. It is well documented in literature that co-processing raw bio-oils with vacuum gas-oil (VGO) using standard equilibrium catalyst (E-cat) will reduce yields of desirable products (gasoline, light cycle oil (LCO), and LPG-olefins) due to increased production of dry gas, coke, and heavy cycle oil (HCO). This is not surprising because the Y-zeolite, an active component of E-cat, is not effective for catalytic upgrading of biomass derived molecules. In this work, we will use a different approach to enhance biogenic carbon incorporation in desirable products, gasoline, LCO and LPG-olefins. The results presented in this work were obtained using an ACE reactor (Kayser Technology Inc.) equipped with a dual feeding system for bio-oils and VGO. We will first present on the effect of co-processing catalytic pyrolysis-derived bio-oil (CFP-oil), an upgraded bio-oil with ~13wt% oxygen content, with VGO on FCC product yields. We will then report on the impact of modifying E-cat with additives, that targets, conversion of biomass derived molecules. The intended outcome is to provide guidance on how to enhance biogenic carbon incorporation in desirable fuel range molecules and LPG-olefins by making small modifications to the E-cat. The results from these studies will be used to inform economic models for co-processing bio-oils with VGO and highlight opportunities for accelerating the deployment of the co-processing technology.