Continuous Production of "Drop-in" Biofuels and Biochemicals via Catalytic Hydrothermal Conversion of Agricultural Residue Fats and Oils

Waste, non-food biomass has little value and is often sent to landfill. Methods to convert this mass into value-added compounds deserve attention, especially ones that lead to biofuels and biochemicals that historically are only obtained from non-renewable petroleum sources. A novel catalytic process which operates using recyclable supercritical water will be used to produce bioproducts from biomass. The bioproducts will be analyzed to determine the optimal conversion of biomass. The new methods will be published in a journal article to disseminate the knowledge.This project will demonstrate the feasibility of producing bioproducts from water and biomass. The results will be used to scale the process to pilot plant and commercial levels. Upon reaching a commercial level, sustainable bioproducts will be replacements for or blends with petroleum gasoline, jet, and diesel fuels as well as other petrochemicals. The process will be environmentally friendly having a long lifetime with a catalyst that shows extraordinary stability. With this project, we seek to help satisfy the growing demand for green biofuels and biochemicals and dramatically change the economics and input materials used for bioproducts produced in the United States.