The Biorefining Research and Innovation Centre (BRIC) translates fundamental research outcomes into new prototypes which, in partnership with industry partners, will be refined into efficient, market-ready bioproducts.
Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a promising pathway for converting biomass residues to biofuels (diesel and jet fuel) and biochemicals (e.g. carbon, alcohols). The low quality of bio-oil and biochar, however, imposes challenges in upgrading and application.
To improve the quality of bio-oil and biochar, since 2010, researchers at CERC have been exploring the in-situ catalytic pyrolysis incorporated with microwave heating in a bench microwave reactor system. A microwave-assisted fluidized bed catalytic pyrolysis (MACP) technology has been developed by integrating microwave heating, in-situ catalysis and horizontal gas-pulsating fluidization technologies, and a pilot scale unit, sponsored by CFI, has recently been built up in BRIC.
In the MACP reactor, in-situ microwave-assisted catalytic cracking of organic vapours on hot catalyst surface improves bio-oil quality significantly, as reflected by low oxygen content, low acidity and viscosity. The unique internal microwave heating of biomass particles also results in a much porous structure of biochar particles and thus high specific surface area, which in conjunction with remaining natural catalysts as nutrients serve as a high-value carbon-based fertilizer with high water and nutrient holding capacity.
Bio-oil Upgrading
The value of bio-oil can be significantly increased by catalytic upgrading to liquid fuels and chemicals. Over the past 10 years, Smith has been working on upgrading bio-oil to a transportation biofuel via catalytic hydro-deoxygenation. Through a collaboration with KIST, for example, new catalysts have been developed in a high-pressure laboratory reactor, and the upgraded liquid biofuel has been evaluated in a diesel engine with emissions monitored. A significant amount of progress has been made to identify new catalyst formulations for hydro-deoxygenation of compounds associated with pyrolysis oils. With the new BRIC facility, researchers are looking to expand on this technology with new state of the art equipment such as the Bio-oil Upgrading System.