Catalytic low cost carbon resources pyrolysis under natural gas for upgraded oil production

Fast pyrolysis followed by hydrodeoxygenation upgrading is the most popular way to produce bio-oil from biomass. A two-step process can be combined together as hydropyrolysis treatment. This approach usually involves continuous hydrogen flow and high operation pressure (15~100 atm), resulting in significantly increased capital and operational costs. Compared to hydrogen, which is not naturally available and thus
costly, methane can be readily obtained as natural gas. Metal loaded zeolites will be prepared as the catalysts by incipient wetness impregnation method. The catalyst will be used to upgrade the fast pyrolysis product of biomass under methane atmosphere. By adding methane into the pyrolysis product, upgraded crude oil with increased would be collected. The oil quality would be improved in terms of reduced total acid number (TAN) and higher hydrogen to carbon (H/C) ratio. The liquid yield would also be increased by adding methane into the oil molecules. The outcomes from this research will provide a more efficient and cleaner way to utilize low cost carbon resources and natural gas which are abundant in nature.

Faculty Supervisor:

Hua Song

Student:

Peng He

Partner:

Discipline:

Engineering - chemical / biological

Sector:

University:

University of Calgary

Program:

Globalink