Gasoline from Biomass through Refinery‐Friendly Carbohydrate‐Based Bio‐Oil Produced by Ketalization

Abstract

The introduction of biomass-derived compounds as an alternative feed into the refinery structure that already exists can potentially converge energy uses with ecological sustainability. Herein, we present an approach to produce a bio-oil based on carbohydrate-derived isopropylidene ketals obtained by reaction with acetone under acidic conditions directly from second-generation biomass. The obtained bio-oil showed a greater chemical inertness and miscibility with gasoil than typical bio-oil from fast pyrolysis. Catalytic upgrading of the bio-oil over zeolites (USY and Beta) yielded gasoline with a high octane number. Moreover, the co-processing of gasoil and bio-oil improved the gasoline yield and quality compared to pure gasoil and also reduced the amount of oxygenated compounds and coke compared with pure bio-oil, which demonstrates a synergistic effect.

Green-aromatic production in typical conditions of fluidized catalytic cracking

“…To support the consideration of the origin of the non-aromatics, values for the non-aromatic fraction, presented in Table 3, were estimated based on the following two assumptions: 1it is exclusively produced by n-hexane; 2the yield was determined (as explained in the experimental section) and the selectivity of n-hexane conversion was not affected by the presence of DX. The estimated contribution of n-hexane and the measured values are similar for both catalysts, which supports the conclusion that these products are mainly related to the nhexane conversion as previously noted [14]. The remaining products in the liquid phase are solely related to light compounds (S light ).…”

“…An alternative route that can potentially overcome the above limitations is the transformation of biomass into a bio-crude by ketalization reaction (using the idea of protective reaction from organic chemistry) [14] followed by catalytic conversion either in a FCC or a hydro conversion unit in fixed-bed reactors. [15] The proposed bio-crude is composed of ketal-sugar derivatives like [16].…”

Catalyst regeneration using CO2 as reactant through reverse‐Boudouard reaction with coke

“…It is important to point out that this approach could work in the regular regeneration step of FCC units, thus little investment would be necessary. Moreover, the process of heavier feedstocks and biofeeds in FCC would result in higher amounts of coke in the spent catalyst . Therefore, it would enhance the possibility of CO 2 mitigation through a reverse‐Boudouard reaction.…”

“…Moreover, the process of heavier feedstocks and biofeeds in FCC would result in higher amounts of coke in the spent catalyst. 4 Therefore, it would enhance the possibility of CO 2 mitigation through a reverse-Boudouard reaction.…”

One-pot conversion of furfural to useful bio-products in the presence of a Sn,Al-containing zeolite beta catalyst prepared via post-synthesis routes

“…Zeolite beta and its modified versions are known to be effective catalysts for several reactions concerning the valorisation of biomass, e.g. corn fiber to Fur [38]; levuglucosan (an intermediate of (hemi)cellulose pyrolysis) to glucose [39] or Fur [40]; saccharides to Fur [41,42], 5-(hydroxymethyl)furfural (HMF) [42][43][44][45][46][47], or LEs [48,49]; cellulose and hemicelluloses to diesel [50]; hemicelluloses to polyols [51]; C-3 sugar to methyl lactate and lactic acid [52]; FA to 2-(ethoxymethyl)furfural (EMF) and ethyl levulinate (EL) [53]; biodegradable surfactants via acetalisation [54] or etherification of HMF [55]; Fur to GVL [4]; pyrolysis of biomass or derived compounds to aromatic/aliphatic 4 hydrocarbons [56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66]; sugarcane bagasse to bio-oil and upgrading to fuel [67]; co-conversion of biogenic waste and vegetable oil [68]; and pyrolysis of organosolv lignin to phenolic compounds [69,70]. The introduction of different elements into zeolite beta widens its catalytic potential.…”