Hydrotreatment of pyrolysis bio-oil with non-edible carinata oil and poultry fat for producing transportation fuels

The cost of producing biofuels has been more expensive than fuels from fossil energy due to the heterogeneous nature of biomass sources. Therefore, commercialization efforts for producing biofuels have focused on blending with oleochemical feedstocks. This study carried out co-hydroprocessing (50:50) of pyrolysis oil with carinata oil or poultry fat over two catalyst supports. Cobalt and molybdenum catalysts supported on Douglas fir-derived biochar and alumina were used. The major goal of this study was to understand the synergistic effect of mixing pyrolysis oil with triglycerides for hydrotreatment under various supports, the influence on the oil quality, hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) and coke formation. The catalyst aided by biochar displayed improved HDO. Higher hydrogen consumption and low coke formation were seen for biochar support, and oxygen was predominantly removed via dehydration. Large oxygen-containing functional groups, high surface area, and acid sites in biochar might have made it a better HDO catalyst. Blending pyrolysis oil with poultry fat yielded better pyrolysis bio-oil quality over carinata oil and produced a higher percentage of jet fuel fraction. In summary, pyrolysis bio-oil mixed with poultry fat and hydrotreated using biochar support catalysts was more effective in HDO activity and improving overall pyrolysis bio-oil quality than alumina-supported catalyst and carinata oil.