OU working on bio oil
University of Oklahoma researchers believe fuels produced from biomass could create an alternate energy source and alleviate dependence on foreign oil.
Lance Lobban, director of the School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, said researchers want to use catalysts and chemical reactors to convert cellulosic biomass into new fuels.
“The idea is to use a series of catalytic and separation steps to create the desired fuel molecules,” says Lobban who envisions fuels that can closely duplicate gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. “We have to design processes to convert biomass so the product works with the current system.”
OU’s chemical engineers are using molecular engineering to identify fuel molecules, and then researchers will develop the catalysts to produce those molecules from biomass.
The goal is to create what Lobban calls bio oil, which would be made by pyrolyzing biomass. Pyrolysis converts the solid biomass to liquids through a high-temperature, non-combustion process that breaks large, solid molecules into smaller liquid ones.
Bio oil’s composition is very different from either petroleum or synthetic oil, and bio oil would be an intermediate step in Lobban’s overall goal of producing “green” gasoline and diesel fuels.
“Bio oil is a mix of lots of compounds (alcohols, esters, aldehydes, organic acids, and more) and isn’t suitable to use directly as a transportation fuel,” Lobban said. “But we believe we can develop processes to refine it to produce gasoline and diesel that are completely fungible, i.e., which are completely compatible with every component of the present transportation fuel infrastructure.”
The same catalysts that refineries already use cannot be used to convert bio oil to fuel, he said. Bio oil will contain a high percentage of water, possibly 25-30%, and oxygen-containing compounds.
Because of its water content, bio oil could not be transported in existing pipelines. The goal is to make bio oil compatible with gasoline or diesel so retail fueling stations could use existing pumps.
Lance Lobban, director of the School of Chemical, Biological, and Materials Engineering, said researchers want to use catalysts and chemical reactors to convert cellulosic biomass into new fuels.
“The idea is to use a series of catalytic and separation steps to create the desired fuel molecules,” says Lobban who envisions fuels that can closely duplicate gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. “We have to design processes to convert biomass so the product works with the current system.”
OU’s chemical engineers are using molecular engineering to identify fuel molecules, and then researchers will develop the catalysts to produce those molecules from biomass.
The goal is to create what Lobban calls bio oil, which would be made by pyrolyzing biomass. Pyrolysis converts the solid biomass to liquids through a high-temperature, non-combustion process that breaks large, solid molecules into smaller liquid ones.
Bio oil’s composition is very different from either petroleum or synthetic oil, and bio oil would be an intermediate step in Lobban’s overall goal of producing “green” gasoline and diesel fuels.
“Bio oil is a mix of lots of compounds (alcohols, esters, aldehydes, organic acids, and more) and isn’t suitable to use directly as a transportation fuel,” Lobban said. “But we believe we can develop processes to refine it to produce gasoline and diesel that are completely fungible, i.e., which are completely compatible with every component of the present transportation fuel infrastructure.”
The same catalysts that refineries already use cannot be used to convert bio oil to fuel, he said. Bio oil will contain a high percentage of water, possibly 25-30%, and oxygen-containing compounds.
Because of its water content, bio oil could not be transported in existing pipelines. The goal is to make bio oil compatible with gasoline or diesel so retail fueling stations could use existing pumps.
Labels: bio oil, cellulosic biomass, University of Oklahoma
posted by Paula Dittrick, OGJ Senior Staff Writer at
10:31 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you for sharing this wonderful topic on bio oil. Very informative.
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