Biomass has become an important approach to meet the current requirements of energy and oil alternatives. In recent years, extensive research has been carried out on the transformation of biological wastes into biofuels and through pyrolysis, which may gradually be replacing the crude-oil resources. One promising pyrolysis route is intermediate pyrolysis. Which opens the field to the valorization of a high variety of biological residues into biofuels including gasses, liquid chemicals and carbonisate. In the present work, the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming-TCR ® technology based on intermediate pyrolysis with integrated catalytic reforming is discussed, showing high productivity and higher quality biofuels compared to traditional pyrolysis systems. This paper illustrates the data from the up-scaling of the TCR ® system from laboratory scale to pilot scale using sewage sludge as feedstock. The effects of the design differences are studied from the point of view of the qualities of products, mass and energy balances of the laboratory unit upon the pilot unit.

Conversion of spent coffee grounds through the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming system (TCR ®) is evaluated in this study. While, the TCR ® is a technology that has been developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT, which combines an intermediate pyrolysis and a catalytic reforming. The temperature of the catalytic reformer is varied between 500 and 700 °C to achieve an optimum yield quantities and qualities of the products. The hydrogen concentration is maximized at a reforming temperature of 700 °C, and a gas yield up to 52 wt% is achieved. The thermal stable bio-oil produced at 700 °C has the highest calorific value of 36.8 MJ/kg with significantly low oxygen and water content, low viscosity and low TAN (total acid number). Furthermore, the maximum bio-oil and char yields are obtained at the lowest reforming temperature of 500 °C. Overall spent coffee grounds show a great potential as feedstock in the Thermo-Catalytic Reforming for energy and bio-chemicals production.