Applied Catalysis Research for Renewable Diesel Production and Glycerol Utilization

世界上约四分之三的一次能源消费与石油、煤炭和天然气等以化石为基础的能源有关。然而，原油储量的减少、生产成本的增加以及世界范围内对燃料的需求加剧了与使用化石燃料有关的气候问题，并鼓励各国政府将重点转向改善对生物质等可再生能源的利用。生物质是指碳中性的可再生能源，可用于生产可再生柴油和有价值的绿色化学品。加拿大目前的生物柴油产量超过7亿升/年，甘油产量超过70亿升/年，拥有生产13亿升/年生物柴油的资源。虽然可以利用化学方法从廉价和丰富的非食品类生物质中提取生物燃料，但仍然存在重大的生产和技术挑战。提高植物油转化为生物柴油的效率，使其更经济、更可行的关键是提高催化剂的性能。第一个拟议的研究项目将研究从微藻、油炸油脂和从菜籽油、芥子油和大豆油中提取的低质量植物油的催化作用下高效生产生物柴油。新型介孔分子筛MAS-7和MAS-9负载的磷钨酸将被开发用于该工艺。这些固体酸既可以处理甘油三酯，也可以处理低质量油中的游离脂肪酸。固体酸的使用消除了水的使用，降低了生物柴油生产的运营成本。通过使用甘油来生产甘油醚和碳酸盐等生物化学品，可以进一步降低成本。甘油醚将由甘油与酒精的醚化反应催化而成。在固体催化剂的作用下，通过羰化反应制得碳酸甘油。第二个拟议的研究项目将开发具有负载型Fe和Co催化剂的费托合成(FTS)技术，将合成气转化为运输燃料。FTS生产的柴油质量上乘，不含硫、氮或芳香族污染物。将开发铂负载氧化物和混合氧化物用于FTS蜡加氢裂化，然后用于喷气燃料馏分的异构化。在碱的促进下，碳材料和介孔氧化铝、氧化锆及混合氧化物负载的多功能纳米钼粒子将被用于合成低碳醇。这项研究将试图创造和表征新型催化剂，将它们的性能与其反应活性相关联，并测试它们对供气和采出水的敏感性。将对催化剂的寿命、反应机理和动力学进行评估。将进行生命周期分析和工艺经济学研究，以确定最适合可再生柴油生产和甘油利用的催化剂和工艺条件。

About three quarters of the world's primary energy consumption is linked to fossil-based energy resources such as petroleum, coal, and natural gas. Decreasing crude-oil reserves, increased production costs and worldwide demand for fuel have, however, increased climate concerns associated with the use of fossil fuels and encouraged Governments to shift the focus towards the improved use of renewable energy resources such as biomass. Biomass refers to carbon-neutral renewable energy resources that can be used to produce renewable diesel and valuable green' chemicals. Canada currently produces over 700 million liters (ML)/year of biodiesel and over 70 ML of glycerol, and has the resources to produce >1.3 billion liters/year of biodiesel. While chemical processes are available to derive biofuels from inexpensive and abundant nonfood biomass, significant production and technological challenges remain. The key to improving the vegetable oil conversion to biodiesel and making it more economical and viable is better catalyst performance. The first proposed research project will investigate efficient biodiesel production catalytically from microalgae, fryer grease, and low quality vegetable oils derived from canola, mustard oil, and soya oil. Novel mesoporous zeolites including MAS-7 and MAS-9 supported tungstophosporic acid will be developed for this process. These solid acids can handle both triglycerides and free fatty acids present in low quality oils. The usage of solid acids eliminates water use and reduce the operating costs of biodiesel production. Cost can be further reduced by using glycerol to produce biochemicals such as glycerol ethers and carbonates. Glycerol ethers will be produced catalytically from the etherification of glycerol with an alcohol. Glycerol carbonate will be produced through carbonylation reaction using solid catalysts. The second proposed research project will develop Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (FTS) technology with supported Fe and Co catalysts for converting syngas to transportation fuel. The diesel produced via FTS is of superior quality with no sulfur, nitrogen or aromatic pollutants. Pt supported and mixed oxides will be developed for hydrocracking of the FTS wax followed by isomerization for jet fuel fraction. Multifunctional nano Mo particles promoted with alkali and supported on carbon materials and mesoporous Al2O3 and ZrO2 and mixed oxides will be created for higher alcohol synthesis. The research will attempt to create and characterize novel catalysts, correlate their properties with their reactivity, and test their sensitivities to feed gas variabilities and produced water. The catalyst life, reaction mechanism and kinetics will be evaluated. Life cycle analyses and the process economics studies will be conducted to identify the catalysts and process conditions most suitable for renewable diesel production and glycerol utilization.