Development of technology pathways for co-processing pyrolysis oils and fossil fuels

如今，世界各地的社会都在寻找生产和使用能源的替代方式。生物油是一种不断增长的生物能源，包括从生物质中获得的不同形式的可再生能源。与提炼100%化石燃料相比，生物油可以在现有炼油厂中与石油馏分共同精炼，以生产可再生和更清洁的燃料;这种新兴技术也被称为共同处理或共同精炼。然而，生物油与石油燃料明显不同。生物油是数百种有机化合物的复杂混合物，并且通常具有不期望的性质。深入了解生物油及其与石油馏分的混合物是研究人员开发和推广成功利用生物油的新技术的必要步骤。加拿大炼油厂或电力工业对生物油与常规石油原料共处理的潜力表示严重关切。尽管与生物油馏分混合有几个优点，但工业合作伙伴很少会在没有进行充分的工艺性能评估的情况下冒险使用全新的化学性质不同的原料。为了确保现有炼油厂装置中含生物油原料共处理的安全运行，需要确定和解决腐蚀引起的材料技术挑战;如果适用，将为新的加工环境开发创新材料技术。为了实现这一目标，Kemetco Research Inc.在加拿大，加拿大能源和林业部聘请了阿尔伯塔化学与材料工程系的PI刘晶博士，开发实用的材料技术解决方案，以支持加拿大林业和能源行业利用现有的炼油基础设施共处理生物油和石油原料。拟议研究的长期目标是为新兴的生物油共处理工艺奠定基础，以加速能源部门的可持续发展。

Nowadays, societies around the world are looking for alternative ways they produce and use energy. Bio-oil is a growing form of bioenergy that comprises different forms of renewable energy obtained from biomass. Bio-oils can be co-refined with petroleum fractions in existing refineries for the production of renewable and cleaner fuels compared with refining 100% fossil fuels; this emerging technology is also known as co-processing or co-refining. However, bio-oils are remarkably different from petroleum fuels. Bio-oil is a complex mixture of several hundred organic compounds, and often has undesirable properties. Thorough understanding of bio-oil and its blends with petroleum fractions is a necessary step for researchers to develop and promote new technologies for the successful utilization of bio-oils. Canadian refiners or power industries have serious concerns on the potential of co-processing bio-oils with conventional petroleum feedstocks. Even though there are several advantages of blending with bio-oil fractions, industrial partners will rarely risk running entirely new, chemically different feedstocks without performing sufficient process performance assessments. To ensure the safe operation of co-processing bio-oil containing feedstocks in existing refinery units, the materials technology challenges caused by corrosion need to be identified and addressed; and if applicable, innovative materials technologies will be developed for the new processing environment. To achieve this, Kemetco Research Inc. has engaged Dr. Jing Liu, PI, from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering (CME) at University of Alberta (U of A) to develop practical materials technology solutions for supporting Canadian forest and energy industry on the co-processing of bio-oil and petroleum feedstocks using the existing refining infrastructure. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to lay foundation for the emerging bio-oil co-processing process with the purpose of accelerating sustainable development in energy sectors.