Combined hydrothermal liquefaction and catalytic hydrothermal gasification system and process for conversion of biomass feedstocks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12012552-B2
Application number	US-202217875269-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 27, 2022
Priority date	Jun 8, 2012
Publication date	Jun 18, 2024
Grant date	Jun 18, 2024

Abstract

A combined hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) system and process are described that convert various biomass-containing sources into separable bio-oils and aqueous effluents that contain residual organics. Bio-oils may be converted to useful bio-based fuels and other chemical feedstocks. Residual organics in HTL aqueous effluents may be gasified and converted into medium-BTU product gases and directly used for process heating or to provide energy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for conversion of a biomass, the system comprising:
a hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) stage apparatus that hydrothermally liquefies the biomass in an aqueous medium at a temperature and pressure selected to form a crude conversion product comprising a bio-oil component and an aqueous component, wherein the HTL stage apparatus includes a solids separator configured to receive the crude conversion product and provide solids-free crude conversion product comprising the bio-oil component and the aqueous component; and
a catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) stage apparatus operatively coupled to the HTL stage apparatus and configured to receive at least a portion of the solids-free crude conversion product having both the bio-oil component and the aqueous component, and form, at a selected temperature and pressure, a gas product containing at least one medium BTU product gas from the aqueous component.

2. The system of claim 1 further comprising an upgrade stage apparatus configured to upgrade the bio-oil component released from the solids separator over a hydrogenation catalyst at a temperature up to about 450° C. and a hydrogen partial pressure up to about 150 atmospheres (1.52×104 kPa) to form diesel and/or gasoline reactant green crude.

3. The system of claim 2 further comprising at least one heat exchanger operatively coupled to the upgrade stage apparatus.

4. The system of claim 3 further comprising another heat exchanger operatively coupled to the HTL stage apparatus.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein the heat exchangers are operably engaged to exchange thermal transfer fluid.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the gas product when combusted generates sufficient energy such that the sum of the energy demands for conversion of the biomass to the product gas is a net positive.

7. The system of claim 1 further including one or more heat exchangers positioned to distribute heat to selected locations in the HTL stage apparatus and/or the CHG stage apparatus.

8. A biomass conversion process, the process comprising:
hydrothermally liquefying a biomass containing feedstock in an aqueous medium at a temperature and a pressure selected to form a crude biomass conversion product comprising:
solids;
a bio-oil component; and
an aqueous component;
separating the solids from the crude biomass conversion product to form a solids-free crude conversion product comprising the bio-oil component and the aqueous component; and
providing the aqueous component to a catalytic hydrothermal gasifier and catalytically hydrothermally gasifying the aqueous component over a selected catalyst at a temperature and a pressure selected to form a product gas containing at least one medium-BTU gas.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein the biomass containing feedstock comprises algae.

10. The process of claim 8 wherein the biomass containing feedstock comprises an aqueous slurry.

11. The process of claim 8 wherein both the hydrothermally liquefying and the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying are performed at the same operating pressure.

12. The process of claim 8 wherein the hydrothermally liquefying and the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying are sequentially performed in separate reactor stages.

13. The process of claim 8 wherein the hydrothermally liquefying and the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying are both performed at a pressure up to about 210 atmospheres and a temperature up to about 360° C.

14. The process of claim 8 wherein the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying generates heat, the process further comprising recycling the heat and using the heat for the hydrothermally liquefying and/or the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying.

15. The process of claim 8 wherein the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying is performed with a catalyst comprising one or more of Ru, Rh, Os, Ni, and/or Cu.

16. The process of claim 8 further comprising combusting the product gas to generate energy for one or both of the hydrothermally liquefying and/or the catalytically hydrothermally gasifying.

Assignees

• Battelle Memorial Institute

Inventors

• Elliott Douglas C
• Neuenschwander Gary G
• Hart Todd R

Classifications

• C10G1/06

  by destructive hydrogenation · CPC title

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title

• C10G3/50

  in the presence of hydrogen, hydrogen donors or hydrogen generating compounds · CPC title

• C10G3/40

  Thermal non-catalytic treatment · CPC title

• C10G1/065

  in the presence of a solvent · CPC title