Pyrolysis oil and method and system for the production thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11066604-B2
Application number	US-201715684448-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 23, 2017
Priority date	Feb 27, 2015
Publication date	Jul 20, 2021
Grant date	Jul 20, 2021

Abstract

A method for producing a pyrolysis oil is described. In said method, a feedstock to be treated is first pyrolyzed in a pyrolysis zone, in which the feedstock is heated to a temperature of 250 degrees Celsius to 700 degrees Celsius; and pyrolyzed solids and pyrolysis vapors are formed. The pyrolysis vapors are then reformed at a temperature of 450 degrees Celsius to 1,200 degrees Celsius in a post-conditioning zone, in which the pyrolysis vapors are brought into contact with a catalyst bed, wherein the pyrolysis oil is formed. In this case, the catalyst comprises a pyrolyzed solid, which can be obtained according to the pyrolysis, described above. Finally the pyrolysis oil is separated from the additional pyrolysis products, which are formed, in a separation unit.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for producing a pyrolysis oil, the method comprising:
pyrolysing a feedstock substantially in the absence of oxygen in a pyrolysis zone, in which the feedstock is heated to a temperature that is in a range of 250 degrees Celsius to 700 degrees Celsius, wherein a residence time of a material to be pyrolysed in the pyrolysis zone is in a range of one second to one hour, and pyrolysed solids and pyrolysis vapors are formed;
post-conditioning at least the pyrolysis vapors in a post-conditioning zone, in which the pyrolysis vapors are brought into contact with a catalyst bed containing a catalyst, wherein said catalyst comprises the pyrolysed solids, which are directly obtained by pyrolysing the feedstock, wherein a residence time of the pyrolysis vapors in the post-conditioning zone is in a range from 10 −3 seconds to 180 seconds and wherein the post-conditioning is carried out at a temperature in a range of 450 degrees Celsius to 800 degrees Celsius, wherein the temperature of the post-conditioning is at least 50 degrees Celsius higher than the temperature of the pyrolysing, and wherein, upon condensation, the pyrolysis oil is formed; and
separating the pyrolysis oil from other pyrolysis products that are formed in a separation unit.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock includes a biogenic material.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock comprises a digestate, a digestate from a biogas process, a digestate from a bioethonal process, a cellulose-containing material, agricultural waste, straw, industrial biomass residue, brewer's spent grain, grape pomace, olive pomace, nut shells, coffee grounds, spent grease, animal fat, slurries from recycling of paper, manure-containing materials, sewage sludge, or any mixture thereof.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock comprises a polymer, a polyacrylate, a polyurethane, a polyester, a polyolefin, rubber, or any mixture thereof.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock, for the production of the catalyst used in the post-conditioning, has an ash content in accordance with DIN EN 14775 of no less than 1% by weight.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the feedstock comprises acids or is selected in such a way that, during the pyrolysing, acids are formed, and wherein the feedstock comprises lignocellulose, acrylate groups, urethane groups, or ester groups.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein a lignocellulose content of a biogenic fraction of the feedstock is greater than 5% by weight.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in the post-conditioning, the catalyst comprises a pyrolysed solid having a highest level of catalytic activity after being fed to the pyrolysis zone, and wherein the catalyst used in the post conditioning and the pyrolysis oil formed in the post-conditioning were obtained at least partially from the feedstock that was pyrolysed.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein a residence time of the catalyst in the post-conditioning zone is a maximum of 12 hours.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in the post-conditioning, the pyrolysis vapors are fed to the post-conditioning zone in such a way that a volume flow of the pyrolysis vapors is passed completely through flow paths present in the catalyst bed, wherein the catalyst bed is arranged in the post-conditioning zone in such a way that a cross sectional area of the post-conditioning zone arranged perpendicular to a direction of flow is present so as to be filled completely with the catalyst bed.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein, in the post-conditioning, the pyrolysed solid directly obtained by pyrolysing the feedstock is supplied continuously as the catalyst, and the volume flow of the pyrolysis vapors is passed through the catalyst bed in such a way that the pyrolysis vapors come into contact with a last supplied catalyst immediately at the start of the post-conditioning.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein, in the pyrolysing, a residence time of the material to be pyrolysed is in a range of one minute to one hour, and, in the pyrolysing, continuously or semi-continuously a pyrolysed material is fed back directly into a region of the pyrolysis zone that faces away from the post-conditioning zone, wherein a mixing of the pyrolysed material with the feedstock is carried out at least in the region of the pyrolysis zone that faces away from the post-conditioning zone.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the residence time during the post-conditioning is in a range of 1 second to 60 seconds; and the temperature in the post-conditioning is no less than 600 degrees Celsius.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolysis oil or the other pyrolysis products, during the post-conditioning or the separating, are subjected to a catalytic hydrogenation.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein a distillation of the pyrolysis oil takes place during the separating.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein during the pyrolysing of the feedstock, the temperature to which the feedstock is heated is in a range of 400 degrees Celsius to 500 degrees Celsius.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the residence time of material to be pyrolysed in the pyrolysis zone is in a range of 3 minutes to 10 minutes.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the post-conditioning is carried out at a temperature in a range of 600 degrees Celsius to 750 degrees Celsius.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pyrolysis oil comprises a carbon content greater than 65% by wt., a hydrogen content greater than 5% by wt., an oxygen content of less than 16% by wt., a 14 C content of no less than 0.1 parts per trillion, and an acid value of less than 15 mg of KOH/g.

20. The method of claim 1 , wherein an acid value of the pyrolysis oil is less than 10 mg of KOH/g.

21. The method of claim 1 , wherein oxygen content of the pyrolysis oil is less than 8% by weight.

22. The method of claim 1 , wherein a weight ratio of hydrogen/carbon of the pyrolysis oil is greater than 0.08.

23. The method of claim 1 , wherein a water content of the pyrolysis oil is less than 5% by weight.

24. A method for producing a pyrolysis oil, the method comprising:
pyrolysing a feedstock substantially in the absence of oxygen in a pyrolysis zone, in which the feedstock is heated to a temperature that is in a range of 250 degrees Celsius to 700 degrees Celsius, wherein a residence time of a material to be pyrolysed in the pyrolysis zone is in a range of one second to one hour, and pyrolysed solids and pyrolysis vapors are formed;
post-conditioning at least the pyrolysis vapors in a post-conditioning zone, in which the pyrolysis vapors are passed through a catalyst bed containing a catalyst, wherein said catalyst consists of the pyrolysed solids, which are directly obtained by pyrolysing the feedstock, wherein a residence time of the pyrolysis vapors in the post-conditioning zone is in a range from 10 −3 seconds to 180 seconds and wherein the post-conditioning is carried out at a temperature in a range of 450 degrees Celsius to 800 degrees Celsius, and wherein, upon condensation, the pyrolysis oil is formed; and
separating the pyrolysis oil from other pyrolysis products that are formed in a separation unit.

25. A method for producing a pyrolysis oil, the method comprising:
pyrolysing a feedstock substantially in the absence of oxygen in a pyrolysis zone, in which the feedstock is heated to a temperature that is in a range of 300 degrees Ce

Assignees

• Fraunhofer Ges Forschung

Inventors

• Hornung Andreas
• Apfelbacher Andreas
• Ouadi Miloud
• Neumann Johannes

Classifications

• C10L2290/02

  Combustion or pyrolysis · CPC title

• Y02P30/20

  using bio-feedstock · CPC title

• C10G1/10

  from rubber or rubber waste · CPC title

• C10G3/00

  Production of liquid hydrocarbon mixtures from oxygen-containing organic materials, e.g. fatty oils, fatty acids (production from non-melting solid oxygen-containing carbonaceous materials C10G1/00) · CPC title

• C10C5/00

  Production of pyroligneous acid {distillation of wood, dry distillation of organic waste}(carbonisation of wood C10B) · CPC title