Pyrolytic
bio-oil
Pyrolysis of biomass has a significant potential to produce bio-oil which can be integrated with the conventional liquid
oil industry. But conventional pyrolytic bio-oil cannot be used by oil refineries due to high acidity, high oxygen content.
RE Hydrogen has developed a novel "catalyst assisted in-situ method for hydrogen enrichment in a step reaction during
the pyrolysis process". This technology can be easily scaled up and will be applied to a range of biomass resources.
The conversion of ligno-cellulosic biomass to ethanol has greater market barriers in the UK compared to agro-based countries.
But this catalyst assisted flash pyrolysis of cattle manure & ligno-cellulose biomass produces improved bio-oil which
can be directly integrated with existing oil refineries.
The potential bio-oil market in the UK is equivalent
to 250,000 barrel/day, which is about 10% of the UK's daily oil consumption. The project was initially funded by the Technology Strategy Board, UK. REH has been able to reduce the oxygen
content and the acidity significantly from pyrolytic oil. REH has also increased the hydrogen content in the pyrolytic oil
by catalyst treatment. RE Hydrogen is exploring commercial collaboration with industrial partners in this context.
The by-product oxygen produced by REH's electrolyser can be used in improved gasification
of biomass to produce high quality syngas without nitrogen dilution. The syngas from oxygen enriched gasifiers will have better
energy value per Nm3 of syngas (CO+H2) than conventional gasification derived syngas. Generally air is
supplied in conventional gasifiers but high oxygen content in the input air will reduce its air demand. This will
then lower the capacity of the pumps, blowers, gas cleaning etc and thus reduce the capital cost.
