Biocrude

Basics

• A viscous liquid resembling crude petrolium oil in most respects
• Produced from biomass
• Can be aquired from a variety of methods (see HTL )
• Some forms of Pyrolysis Oil can be considered Bio-Crude, but their compositions are not as broad in most cases (research needed on this)

Used For

• Burning as a fuel Itself
• Refining it into Bio-Petrochemicals and other derivatives (Biofuels such as Bio Gasoline, Biodiesel, etc) using a Biorefinery and/or Biocrude Refinery

Catalyst Compatibility

"Raw"

• Supposedly has some issues with Catalyst Poisoning
• From "DEMETALLATION OF BIOCRUDE FROM HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION OF MICROALGAE"
  • "In addition to heteroatoms such as N, O, and S in algal biocrude oil, there is also the presence of metals. The most common metals in algal crude oil are Na, Fe, Ca, Cu, K, Mg, Ni, Zn, Mn, Cr, Al, with concentration ranging from a few ppm to a few thousand ppm. Conversely, the most abundant and detrimental metals in petroleum crude oil are Ni and V."

Processing Methods Which Help

• Could maybe use "sweetening" as a name for this, this is used for sulfur removal in-industry?
• Most seem to be under the category of "Hydrotreating" mainly:
  • Hydrodesulfurization
  • Hydrodemetallization
• Supposedly "Oxygen Content" is another issue, need to look into this
• "DEMETALLATION OF BIOCRUDE FROM HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION OF MICROALGAE"
• "Review of Denitrogenation of Algae Biocrude Produced by Hydrothermal Liquefaction"
• "Metals and Other Elements in Biocrude from Fast and Isothermal Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Microalgae" (May fit better in composition?, it only is talking about contaminants that could foul catalysts however, not specific hydrocarbons)
• [https://www.osti.gov/pages/servlets/purl/1415271 "Influence of Process Conditions and Interventions on Metals Content in Biocrude

from Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Microalgae" ]

Composition

• Get papers on typical chemical composition + ratios of each
• This is so we can calculate the typical "flows" of a Biorefinery / Bio-Crude Refinery 's Fractional Distilation Column
• "Chemical properties of biocrude oil from the hydrothermal liquefaction of Spirulina algae, swine manure, and digested anaerobic sludge" Given how it used sludge / Black Water it may not be the best from a biofuel application/perspective?
  • Quote: "Molecular weights tracked with obdurate carbohydrate content and followed the order of Spirulina < swine manure < digested sludge. A similar trend was observed in boiling point distributions and the long branched aliphatic contents. These findings show the importance of HTL feedstock composition and highlight the need for better understanding of biocrude chemistries when considering bio-oil uses and upgrading requirements."
• "Sustainable production of bio-crude oil via hydrothermal liquefaction of symbiotically grown biomass of microalgae-bacteria coupled with effective wastewater treatment"
  • "GC-MS and FTIR analysis of bio-crude oil indicates abundance of the hydrocarbon fraction and in turn, better oil quality. Maximum distillate fraction of 30.62% lies within the boiling point range of 200–300 °C depicting suitability of the bio-crude oil for conversion into diesel oil, jet fuel and fuel for stoves."
• "A review on hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass" (And from 2018, this paper seems like the potential best one so far)
• "Evaluation of bio-crude oil through hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae-bacteria consortium grown in open pond using wastewater"
• "Review of algae hydrothermal liquefaction" (2017)
• "Prediction of microalgae hydrothermal liquefaction products from feedstock biochemical composition" (Modeling will be very useful, especially given the likely use of diverse feedstocks rather than a single strain of algae, or fuel crop (unlike some plants/business models reffered to in many papers) )
• "Experimental Investigations of Physical and Chemical Properties for Microalgae HTL Bio-Crude Using a Large Batch Reactor"

Internal Links

• HTL

External Links

• "The storage stability of biocrude obtained by the hydrothermal liquefaction of microalgae"