Conversion of lignocellulose and other waste biomass into ketones and hydrocarbon biofuels: The MixAlco process, semi-works plant results
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abstract
The MixAlco process converts any anaerobically biodegradable material, e.g., proteins, cellulose, hemicellulose, fats, and pectin, into a wide array of chemicals and fuels. Such conversion occurs by anaerobic fermentation of the biomass into mixed acids by a mixed culture of naturally occurring microorganisms followed by the conversion of the mixed acids into the desired chemicals or fuels using conventional chemistry. Terrabon LLC constructed a semi-works plant in Bryan, TX, to confirm the scalability of this process. The semi-works plant processes the equivalent to 5-10 ton/day of biomass and is able to generate enough fermentation products to produce 300 gal/day of bio-gasoline. Such conversion to bio-gasoline takes place in a separate pilot plant, where the fermentation product is clarified, dewatered, thermally converted into ketones, and finally catalytically oligomerized into hydrocarbons. The semi-works plant monitors different parameters in the fermentation, such as conversion, selectivity towards acids and acid yield and biogas production. In the downstream chemical processing into hydrocarbons, many different parameters are monitored, e.g., yields and selectivity in the thermal conversion to ketones and oligomerization to hydrocarbons, as well as the quality (octane number, RVP, and emissions) of the final product. Results from these studies are presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Spring National Meeting and 5th Global Congress on Process Safety (Tampa, FL 4/26-30/2009).
