Catalytic cracking to liquids (BTL) fuels with novel cracking catalyst

PETR 26

Aangel A. Lappas, angel@cperi.certh.gr, Center for research and Technology Hellas, Chemical process Engineering research group, PO Box 361, Thermi-Thessaloniki, NA, Greece and Iacob A. Vasalos, Chemical Process Engineering Research Institute.
The production of synthetic transportation fuels from lingo-cellulosic biomass feedstocks through a Biomass To Liquid (BTL) process is today of increasingly importance. BTL process includes a biomass gasification and a cleaning step for synthesis gas (CO+H2) production which is finally converted to synthetic fuels through Fischer-Tropsch (F-T) synthesis. The produced fuels consist of heavy hydrocarbons with almost zero aromatics and sulfur. The boiling range and type of these hydrocarbons depends on the conditions and catalyst of the F-T synthesis however, usually they contain a very high amount of waxy hydrocarbons with high boiling and melting point. Thus, the upgrading of these waxes is of highly importance for the profitability of the entire BTL process. The purpose of the work presenting in this paper is the development of new catalytic cracking processes (including novel catalysts and optimum experimental conditions) for the upgrading of wax feeds derived from the BTL process in order to produce high quality biofuels. In this work a wax feedstock produced from a BTL process is used. This feed is highly paraffinic with hydrocarbons up to C40 and API=45.36. Commercial and new research catalysts were used for this upgrading processes. For the catalytic cracking experiments a bench scale fixed bed unit was used. More details about the wax and catalyst properties and the experimental system will be given in the extended paper.