Novel surfactant systems for creating high performance bio-oil and vacuum gas oil emulsions as the next generation refinery feedstocks

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Bio-oil (BO), as a renewable energy resource, plays a significant role in reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by gradually substituting fossil fuels. Co-processing BO with petroleum intermediates such as vacuum gas oil (VGO) in existing refining infrastructures provides a promising pathway to transform low-quality BO into value-added biofuels. Nevertheless, the co-processing technology is still under development and faces three major challenges, including the immiscibility between BO and VGO, and the low thermal stability and high corrosivity of BO. To move forward to large-scale commercialization, it is critical to inject BO and VGO as a single-phase fluid and maximize their interactions, especially during the feeding stage of upgrading. Kemetco Research Inc. has been collaborating with Dr. Jing Liu on developing technology pathways for co-processing pyrolysis BO and fossil fuels through an NSERC Alliance project since May 2021. This new Alliance Missions project expands the scope of the ongoing NSERC Alliance Project to develop high-performance surfactant systems for creating BO/VGO emulsions as the next-generation refinery feedstocks through a network approach, involving a multidisciplinary team comprising researchers in the faculty of engineering at the University of Alberta, and collaborators from the industrial partner, Kemetco and the public sector, CanmetMATERIALS. The goals and expected outcomes of this partnership project are: (1) innovative surfactant systems for mixing BO/VGO emulsions; (2) demonstrated good thermostability, non-toxicity, and low corrosion risk of the developed BO/VGO emulsions as the co-refining feedstocks; (3) filing of 1-2 patents to be licensed to the industry partner; (4) training a diverse group of 9-15 HQPs and publishing 10-15 journal/conference papers. The industry partner will directly benefit from this project through the development of high-value surfactant systems for the co-refining market. Future commercialization of the novel surfactant system in refineries will reduce Canada's dependence on fossil fuels, cut GHG emissions, and contribute to the emerging circular/bioeconomy.