The US Department of Energy is supporting a project to demonstrate solvent liquefaction as viable path to stable intermediates for subsequent upgrading to fuel blendstocks. This is based on a technology originally developed in large part via Catchlight Energy and we profiled its revival at Iowa State right here, in “Chevron’s forgotten biofuels wonder-tech gets a second life at Iowa State.”
The project aimed for pilot-scale testing for Chevron’s solvent liquefaction process with direct solvent/bio-oil recycle and to generate stable, deoxygenated bio-oil, while also exploring hydro-processing conditions for bio-oil upgrading to refinery-compatible biocrude and fuel blendstocks. With the overall project, a demonstration plant design package and TEA was in the mix.
As part of our coverage of the Hot Spots in Iowa industrial biotechnology, we’re publishing this illuminating presentation made by Robert Brown of Iowa State (principal investigator in this project).
