In case you missed our final EBIO webinar, the full recording is now accessible on the EBIO YouTube channel.
The webinar featured presentations from two speakers:
-Matteo Gilardi, from SINTEF discussed techno-economic aspect of the valorizatrion of pyrolysis oil throught electrochemistry,
-Jurjen Spekreijse from BTG, who presented a life-cycle assessment (LCA), demonstrating the process’s environmental benefits.
The event welcomed around 60 attendees, who engaged actively during the Q&A session.
Here is a recap of the Q&A discussion:
- Are there other categories of biomasses that might be used?
- Most woody biomass (e.g., sawdust, bark) and other lignocellulosic materials like olive stones and corn stover are suitable. Biomass with high lignin content and low impurities (e.g., metals or ash) works best. An integrated biorefining approach can process cellulose and hemicellulose into ethanol while using lignin as feedstock for pyrolysis.
- What type of co-processing is intended for the intermediary products?
- Hydrotreatment, where light fractions undergo catalytic hydrotreatment and Fluid Catalytic Cracking (FCC), where heavy fractions are processed for fuel production. Co-processing leverages existing refineries, progressively increasing bio-oil blending ratios to reduce costs and expand biofuel production.
- What is the separation method you use after the first reactor?
- The product of the first reactor is essentially a mix of gas, liquid, and solid. Gas (basically only hydrogen) is flashed out easily. Solids are removed with a filter. After removing of gas and solid, organic compounds, which make-up the liquid phase, are recovered as the main products.
- Did you try only a model oil or you have tested real pyrolysis oil as well?
- The project tested real pyrolysis oils, as well as black liquor from pulp mills. Efforts were made to use real bioliquids throughout the process due to the complexity of these materials. Testing with model components was limited to avoid oversimplifications.
- Does another route also require high-pressure H2 as hydrotreatment? If so, how can it be integrated with the electrolysis process to ensure compatibility?
- Any route involving liquefaction of biomass to bioliquids and subsequent conversion into fuels will require hydrogen to remove undesirable chemical groups and increase energy density. This applies to hydrotreatment as well. In the electrochemical upgrading process developed by EBIO, hydrogen is produced as a side product in the first electrochemical reactor. This hydrogen can be reused for catalytic upgrading, eliminating the need for an external hydrogen source.
- Did you try to utilize food waste biomass as feedstock ?
- Industrial food residues (e.g., olive stones) may work. Post-consumer food waste is challenging due to its high nitrogen content, which affects process chemistry.
- Compare your process to oxy-combustion of forest residue to generate electricity and use it to run EVs.
- This is just one of the many options biomass can be handled. It’s difficult to say, based on the concept alone. What EBIO wants to pursue is to utilize all the waste we have in a way that is not focused on combustion but rather on recovering all the constituents at the highest possible purity. The goal is to find an efficient method to recover and valorize all the constituents that biomass has, instead of just generating waste that we then burn.
- How does black liquor compare with pyrolysis oil in terms of process cost and emissions?
- The study and techno-economic assessment (TEA) primarily focused on pyrolysis oil due to its higher commercial potential. Black liquor was considered and tested, but further large-scale implementation appears less feasible because most pulp mills are already operational, and new installations are unlikely in the near future.