Thermo-catalytic reforming as basement for a novel biorefining route to produce chemicals and fuels

Due to Paris climate change agreement, the replacements of fossil oil, as well as CO2 conservation are important aims. To avoid the conflict of the use of agricultural land in terms of cultivation of energy crops and food, biogenic waste is the targeted material for the biorefinery concept. The so-called Thermo-Catalytic Reforming (TCR®) process generates high quality organic liquid, hydrogen rich-syngas, and volatile free solid residue. These products are the fundament that enables the construction of a complex biorefinery system for a decentral application. In contrast to fast pyrolysis liquid, the TCR® liquid offers considerable advantages like the low water content (<2 wt.%), the low oxygen content (<5 wt.%), low total acid numbers (<10 mgKOH/g), and high carbon content (up to 80 wt.%). The most crucial advantage, the thermal stability of the bioâoils, allows direct downstream processing. Hydrogen from TCR® gases can be extracted and can be used for th e upgrading of TCR® oil. Based on the TCR® process and the unique properties of the generated TCR® oil a self-sustained biorefinery concept has been developed including the utilization of residue biomass for chemicals and fuels. Beside the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass a downstream key component of this concept is the catalytic hydrotreating of the TCR® oil. The hydrotreatment ensures the removal of heteroatoms like nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen in order to generate high quality renewable hydrocarbons and aromatics with fossil fuel like properties. The combination of the TCR® process and the upgrading step is the focus of this research report. For an optimization and scale up of the processes, two process conditions are presented and the hydrogen balance is calculated.