Refinery integration of lignocellulose for automotive fuel production: Via the bioCRACK process and two-step co-hydrotreating of liquid phase pyrolysis oil and heavy gas oil

This paper contributes to the integration of pyrolysis oil in standard refinery hydrotreating units for biogenous fuel production by co-processing. A two-step hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process was performed at 80 and 120 bar hydrogen pressure. Liquid phase pyrolysis (LPP) oil was hydrodeoxygenated in a first step between 250 and 350 °C. An optimum between sufficient hydrophobation and high carbon yield in the product phase was determined at 300 °C. Co-processing was performed at 400 °C with 10 wt% of the mildly hydrotreated LPP oil in heavy gas oil (HGO). During the co-processing step, a stable operation mode and constant product quality without pressure dependency in the range of 80 to 120 bar was observed. The experimental outcome as well as product quality and carbon yield were the same as for reference experiments without admixture of pre-treated LPP oil. The products contained no residual oxygen and showed a high H/C ratio, equal to that of HGO.