State of the art of the bioliq® process for synthetic biofuels production

Synthetic fuels from biomass (also referred to as BTL, biomass to liquids) may contribute to the future motor fuel consumption to a considerable extent. To overcome the logistical hurdles connected with the industrial use of large quantities of biomass, the de-central-centralized bioliq® concept has been developed. It is based on a regional pretreatment of biomass for energy densification by fast pyrolysis. The intermediate referred to as biosyncrude allows for economic long-range transportation. Collected from a number of those plants, the biosyncrude is converted into synthesis gas, which is cleaned, conditioned, and further converted to fuels or chemicals in an industrial plant complex of reasonable size. Gasification is performed in a high-pressure entrained flow gasifier at pressures adjusted to those of the subsequently following chemical syntheses. For increased fuel flexibility and conversion of ash rich feed materials, the gasifier is equipped with a cooling screen operated in slagging mode. At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), a pilot plant has been erected for process demonstration along the whole process chain. The two MWth fast pyrolysis plant is already in operation since 2009; the five MWth gasifier, the hot gas cleaning section, and a gasoline synthesis via dimethylether are to be finished in 2011. Commissioning of that plant complex will follow in 2012. The technology applied in the bioliq® process chain and on the state of construction of the pilot plant is presented. © 2012 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2012