Recent advances in co-processing biomass feedstock with petroleum feedstock: A review

The depletion of crude oil reserves and growing environmental concerns have intensified the search for sustainable, low-carbon energy sources. Biomass, as the most abundant renewable carbon resource, offers significant potential for producing drop-in biofuels. However, its high oxygen content, acidity, and instability hinder direct use in existing petroleum infrastructure. Co-processing biomass with conventional petroleum feedstocks in refinery units like fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) or hydrotreating (HDT) presents a promising pathway to produce low-carbon fuels while leveraging existing industrial setups. Despite progress, challenges such as feedstock incompatibility, catalyst deactivation, and operational issues impede large-scale implementation.

A comprehensive review titled “Recent advances in co-processing biomass feedstock with petroleum feedstock: A review” was published in Frontiers in Energy. The review systematically summarizes recent research on co-processing biomass with petroleum streams via FCC and HDT, addressing feedstock properties, catalyst performance, and pilot-scale projects.

The article details co-processing routes using lipids and various bio-oils—including HTL, FP, HDO, and CFP bio-oils—with petroleum fractions. Key findings indicate that upgraded bio-oils (HDO and CFP) exhibit better compatibility and lower coke yields than raw FP bio-oil. In FCC processes, lipids are easily cracked, with oxygen mainly removed as water, while bio-oils require optimized feeding systems to avoid operational issues. HDT co-processing faces challenges such as competitive adsorption between heteroatoms and CO_x inhibition, though catalyst deactivation is often reversible. The use of equilibrium catalysts (E-CAT) in FCC and Ni(Co)-Mo/γ-Al₂O₃ in HDT is common, though catalyst design must better accommodate biomass-specific properties.

This review underscores co-processing as a viable strategy to reduce biorefinery costs by approximately 20% compared to standalone units, while lowering carbon emissions. It highlights the importance of feedstock selection, pretreatment, and reactor design in minimizing negative impacts on product yield and catalyst life. The work provides a scientific basis for further optimizing co-processing technologies and supports the integration of renewable carbon into conventional fuel production without requiring major infrastructure investments.

Original source:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11708-024-0920-1

https://journal.hep.com.cn/fie/EN/10.1007/s11708-024-0920-1

Shareable link: https://rdcu.be/eSrQP

Keywords:

co-processing / biomass / bio-oil / petroleum feedstock / fluid catalytic cracking / hydrotreating