Determination of the role of Zeolite A in the wood biomass depolymerisation process

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Boralex Inc. intends to implement a demonstration plant in Canada to produce light-oil in form of diesel from wood biomass. After successful demonstration, there are several prospects for larger scale commercial plants for the whole Canadian territory to produce renewable and value added biodiesel. The process used relies on catalytic depolymerization (CDP) of wood biomass which is an innovative technology. The CDP process is based on direct liquefaction of biomass, where long chain hydrocarbons or organics are cracked into light crude oil. Since the process is standing at the beginning of its industrial phase, Boralex aims at optimizing the process yield to minimize technological and commercial risks. However, a lack of knowledge and history of CDP applied to wood biomass adds to the complexity of optimizing chemical additives and yields, and prevents this green technology to be fully deployed at a commercial scale. In this project, the role of the catalysts mixture used in the process, the relationship between reaction pH and catalytic conditions, and how these species influence the process yield and the overall CDP performance, will be investigated. This research will enable the development of a new class of "green" over-the-road, which will also result in a substantial reduction of greenhouse gases. Also, the achievement of the project goals will help the creation of new jobs through a new business model which can be applied throughout Canada.