Innovative Upgrading of TCR® Intermediates: Pathways to Sustainable Biofuels

Within the European-funded research project "Phy2Climate," an innovative biorefinery was implemented with the overall goal of combining phytoremediation and biofuel production for the maritime and transport sector. In the frame of the biorefinery concept, contaminated biomass harvested from the project’s pilot sites are initially converted into gaseous, liquid, and solid intermediate products using the thermo-catalytic reforming process (TCR®). These intermediates are subsequently upgraded by applying different techniques. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of the production of Marine Fuels according to ISO 8217 only via an economical distillation process. First results indicate that already most of the parameters stated in the ISO 8217 are within the given thresholds of the norm. However, parameters like the water content, the density and the flash point still must be tuned to meet all specifications. For this, a mild hydrotreatment of the TCR® distillate is proposed. Furthermore, the Synol process is introduced as a promising alternative to highly sensitive Gas to Liquid processes like the Fischer-Tropsch process to produce liquid energy carriers from the gaseous TCR®-intermediate. The process offers various advantages as it is low-energy intense, as it operates under lower pressure and temperature compared to the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis.