MacroBioCrude: Developing an Integrated Supply and Processing Pipeline for the Sustained Production of Ensiled Macroalgae-derived Hydrocarbon Fuels

研究挑战：确定并展示一种稳健且经济的可持续生产替代运输燃料（用作柴油和航空煤油）的途径。使用可持续生物质的创新来源确保了石油峰值过后燃料供应的连续性，并满足了日益增长的燃料需求。目前的第一代技术已经达到了可用生物质原料的极限，而不会影响粮食供应/安全。海藻（大型藻类）是一种可行的替代来源，但它的使用需要调查、开发和商业化，以提供非季节性的供应链，解决其高含水量问题，并提供转化为运输燃料的化学过程。重要性：欧盟和英国政府已经制定了严格的温室气体排放目标。例如，《可再生运输燃料义务》要求到2020年将10%的可再生能源纳入供应链。这些目标，加上对日益减少的石油储备的需求不断增加，特别是对航空和货车的需求，使得在短期/中期发展多样化可再生原料的可持续供应至关重要（目前英国运输燃料使用量=54000万升/年：航空燃料=24%，柴油=39%；年增长率为2%）。建立生产环境和经济上可持续的运输燃料的路线将对确保英国制造业的未来产生直接（化学，燃料部门）和间接（运输，制成品分销）的影响。项目目标：开发和评估综合供应和加工战略，以持续生产青贮ma衍生燃料规格。碳氢化合物。创新的解决方案：传统的草地青贮方法将首次被用于可靠地保存MA生物量50 - 12个月。然后，这种MA青贮将用作生产合成气/生物原油的中间能源载体。这两种假设都是全新的，除了Durham/CPI/Silage Solutions所做的研究之外，这种类型的工作还没有在任何地方进行过。值得注意的是，脱水和脱矿是青贮的固有特征，这两个因素对于促进气化后的催化升级至关重要。这项工作将导致自然储备/栽培的MA生产管道的重大变化，通过提供具有一致化学成分的MA生物量的持续来源作为燃料生产的商品原料，从而实现系统集成。最终，该项目将有助于大型生物燃料工业的起飞，避免粮食/燃料对土地使用的竞争，不需要淡水，并使MA生物质成为可负担得起的首选陆地能源作物。

Research challenge: Identify and demonstrate a robust and economic route for sustainably manufacturing drop-in replacement transport fuels (to use as diesel and aviation kerosene). Using innovative sources of sustainable biomass ensures continuity of fuel supply past peak oil and meets increasing fuel demands. Current 1st-generation technologies have reached the limits of available biomass feedstocks without compromising food supply/security. Seaweed (macroalgae) is a viable alternative source, but its use requires investigation, development and commercialization to provide a non-seasonal supply chain, to tackle its high water content and provide chemical processes for converting to transport fuels.Timeliness/UK Importance: The EU and UK government have set strict targets on greenhouse gas emissions. For example, the Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation requires incorporation of 10% renewables into the supply chain by 2020. Such targets, coupled with increasing demand for dwindling oil reserves, especially for aviation and goods vehicles, make it vital in the short-/medium-term to develop a sustainable supply of diverse renewable feedstocks (current UK transport fuels use=54000 M litres pa: aviation fuel=24%, diesel=39%; 2% growth pa). Establishing routes to produce environmentally and economically sustainable transport fuels will have a direct (chemicals, fuels sectors) and an indirect (transport, manufactured goods' distribution) impact on ensuring the future of UK manufacturing industries.Project aims: To develop and evaluate an integrated supply and processing strategy for sustained production of ensiled MA-derived fuel-spec. hydrocarbons.Innovative Solution: For the first time conventional grassland ensilage methods will be used to reliably preserve MA biomass for >12 months. This MA silage will then be used as an intermediate energy carrier for production of syngas/bio-crude oil. Both hypotheses are entirely new and work of this type has not been conducted anywhere outside of the studies made by Durham/CPI/Silage Solutions. Significantly, dewatering and demineralisation are inherent features of ensiling, two factors crucial in facilitating post-gasification catalytic upgrading. The work will result in a significant step-change in the production pipeline of natural stock/cultivated MA, enabling systems integration by providing a sustained source of MA biomass of consistent chemical composition as a commodity feedstock for fuel production. Ultimately, this project will assist take-off of a large bio-fuels industry that avoids food/fuel competition for land use, does not require fresh water and makes MA biomass an affordable, preferred addition to land-based energy crops.