Integrated plasma catalytic processes for hydrogen-free upgrading of biomass-derived biofuels to hydrocarbon fuels

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The combination of escalating demand for crude oil and approaching global maximum extraction, plus the need to manage greenhouse gas emissions, make the development of sustainable energy sources critical. Renewable diesel/gasoline fuels are the transportation fuels of future. Ambitious biofuel support policies have recently been adopted by Canada, United States (with 60 billion litres of biofuel blended by 2022) and the European Union (with 10% renewable energy in the transport sector by 2020).This strategic grant application aims to enable upgrading biomass-derived biofuel in an unconventional environment - hydrogenless and low pressure. The plan is to build on the collaboration between the labs of Ying Zheng at the University of New Brunswick and of Peijun Hu at the Queen's University at Belfast. Our industrial partner is Atlantic Hyrogen Inc. which has a long-standing interest in application of plasma technology in "green" energy. Biomass-derived biofuel is a mixture of complex oxygenates that need to be upgraded before it can be used directly as fuel or blended to Petroleum diesel/gasoline. In the course of this collaboration we will develop an integrated plasma catalytic process and an efficient catalyst for removal of oxygen from biofuels without the presence of highly pressurized hydrogen gas. Elimination of pressurized hydrogen gas will not only represent significant reduction in costs but also allow decentralized small biorefineries to use the technology, as high pressurized hydrogen gas is often available at centralized plants.