Recipient Organization
EXELUS INC.
110 DORSA AVE
LIVINGSTON,NJ 07039-1037
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
This SBIR project proposes a new approach to making liquid fuels from cellulosic biomass sources (a Biomass-to-Liquids or "BTL" process) that would significantly reduce the cost and complexity of production. The project uses innovative chemistry and reactor designs to enhance efficiency, selectivity, and reduce operating condition severity. Phase I aims to demonstrate process feasibility by determining the achievable reaction rates and selectivity. Process stability will also be verified. The data from Phase I will permit a detailed economic analysis to be performed in order to ascertain the economic viability of the technology. The fuel produced from this type of BTL plant would be completely compatible with existing fuel distribution infrastructure and motor design. These fuels would be carbon neutral and would not compete with food crops. This breakthrough process would greatly reduce both capital and operating costs of such a plant, allowing smaller plants to be
built near the source of the biomass, thereby enhancing economic opportunities for rural farming communities.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Goals / Objectives
Synthesize Reforming / Hydrogenation Catalyst: Catalysts known to be active for reforming and hydrogenation are similar: supported Pt-group metals. Exelus has found that such reforming catalysts are aided by the presence of a base via a reduction in the rate of coking. A key factor in the catalyst design, however, is the wetting characteristics. A hydrophilic catalyst, such as Pt-on-Al2O3 will be exclusively wetted by the aqueous phase, excluding the organic acceptor from the catalytic surface. This could yield good reforming rates but low hydrogenation rates. The opposite is also possible. We must find the correct surface properties to yield a system that is active for both reactions. The target level of activity for Phase I is 1 mol hydrogenated acceptor produced/m3 catalyst/sec. Select Hydrogen Acceptor: Many types of hydrogen acceptors are used in synthetic and industrial chemistry. In industry, they are used to enhance the rate of dehydrogenation reactions and
include ketones, aldehydes, aromatics, nitro-aromatics, halo-aromatics and olefins. The key challenge for us is to select a hydrogen acceptor that readily hydrogenates under the reforming conditions, is chemically stable under those conditions, and does not inhibit the reforming reaction. In addition, the hydrogen acceptor must be recyclable (easily dehydrogenated at different conditions) and must not degrade or polymerize under the reaction conditions. Test Catalysts: Since we will be testing a few catalysts using various hydrogen acceptors over a range of process variables and feed compositions, a factorial design of experiments will be the most expedient way of conducting the performance tests. Conversion, hydrogen selectivity, and carbon balance closure are the main parameters we will use to quantify catalyst performance. The target for hydrogen selectivity is 70% based on the amount of feed carbon consumed. Demonstrate Process Stability: The catalyst and the hydrogen donor must
be stable under the reaction conditions. The H2-acceptor must not significantly decompose or reform, leading to a loss of the acceptor molecules over time. The catalyst must also resist coking and other forms of deactivation. The target stability for Phase I is 20 hours of continuous operation with <5% loss of activity.
Project Methods
The three main attributes by which performance of industrial catalytic processes are judged are a) Catalyst Activity, b) Catalyst Selectivity and c) Catalyst Stability. Based on performance of several commercially operating industrial technologies, guidelines for catalyst performance have been developed for economically viable performance. For most industrial applications, the product of the catalyst activity and catalyst selectivity must exceed 0.1 ton of product per hour per ton of catalyst. Requirements for catalyst stability are related to catalyst activity in such a way that the overall catalyst consumption should not exceed 1 kg of catalyst per ton of product. Phase I will attempt to quantify these attributes and thus create a firm basis to judge process viability. Phase I data will also help answer which of the following attributes is the bottle-neck or the rate controlling step activity, selectivity or stability.