Developing a Pyrolysis Platform Biorefinery (1) High Quality Bio-Oil

"This proposal, lead by Frontline BioEnergy, teams with the Iowa State University (ISU), Center for Sustainable Energy Technologies (CSET) to develop high quality, time-stable and storable fast pyrolysis oils in phase-I that are useful for production of fungible liquid fuels such as diesel, gasoline and jet fuel. Our approach uses novel filtration techniques to reduce total alkali contamination in the condensed pyrolysis liquids below a target 10 ppm threshold to prevent re-polymerization during storage. Phase II would continue development of the pyrolysis platform biorefinery to find improved techniques for separation of the pyrolytic lignin fraction (PLF) from other water soluble fractions prior to refining and upgrading. Phase II would expand knowledge in bio-oil upgrading using our low-alkali product samples for tests of labscale high-pressure hydro-treating of PLF to make distillate fuels. Additionally, we will explore high-pressure steam reforming of the WSF to make syngas useful for making process grade hydrogen and other biofuel synthesis liquids."