Zhengyu Yang

Study of the co-deoxy-liquefaction of biomass and vegetable oil for hydrocarbon oil production

Hydrocarbon oil was obtained by co-deoxy-liquefaction of biomass and vegetable oil in the work. Results showed the weight ratio of biomass to vegetable oil exerted a great effect on the quality of obtained hydrocarbon oil. The optimum weight ratio of biomass to vegetable oil was 4.4:1, when alkanes with the content of 50.43% were detected in obtained hydrocarbon oil, with lower oxygen content of 2.52%, which resulted in higher calorific value-up to 43.36 MJ kg(-1). At the same time, removal rate of carbonyl group of vegetable oil in the mixture reached at least 75.11%. The overall efficiency of the deoxy-liquefaction of biomass and the decarboxylation of vegetable oil were both enhanced by adding vegetable oil into biomass. Compared with the oils obtained from vegetable oil and biomass, respectively, distribution of hydrocarbon oil obtained from the mixture was much more similar to that of diesel oil.

Production of alkanes (C7–C29) from different part of poplar tree via direct deoxy-liquefaction

Poplar leaves, poplar bark and poplar wood were deoxy-liquefied directly in an air-proof stainless steel reactor at different temperatures. The oils from leaves at 350 degrees C, from bark at 400 degrees C and from wood at 450 degrees C, at which the liquid product yields were the maximum, were analyzed by GC-MS. The oils obtained from three parts of poplar tree were quite different from each other in the relative contents of their compositions. The oil from leaves was rich in hydrocarbons (alkanes: C(7)-C(29); aromatics) and poor in phenolics, while oil from wood was rich in phenolics and poor in hydrocarbons. The oil from bark was moderate. Relative contents of hydrocarbons in the leaves oil were as high as 60.01% but decreased to 29.71% in bark oil and 11.43% in wood oil. GC analysis of gases and FT-IR, GC-MS and elemental analysis of oils were performed in this study.

The preparation of High caloric fuel (HCF) from water hyacinth by deoxy-liquefaction

The aim of this study was to prepare HCF (High caloric fuel) from WH (water hyacinth) by deoxy-liquefaction and investigate the composition of HCF. The experiment was performed in a closed reactor at different final temperatures (573 K, 623 K, 673 K and 723 K) with the heating rate of 60 K/min. At 623 K, the maximum yield (12.6 wt.%) of HCF with heating value of 43.8 MJ/kg was obtained. Alkanes, benzene derivatives and phenol derivatives were the dominant components in HCF. The main component in gaseous product was CO(2) (93.2 mol%), which meant that the oxygen in WH was released mainly in the form of CO(2). In addition, the elemental analysis of solid char suggested that the residue content of hydrogen was too low to produce more HCF. So, deoxy-liquefaction mentioned in this article was an effective way to remove oxygen and utilize C and H in WH to the greatest extent.

Co-deoxy-liquefaction of biomass and vegetable oil to hydrocarbon oil: Influence of temperature, residence time, and catalyst

Co-deoxy-liquefaction of biomass and vegetable oil was investigated under the conditions of different temperatures (350-500 °C) and residence time as well as catalyst using HZSM-5. Results suggested low temperature was favorable for the formation of diesel-like products, while high temperature caused more gasoline-like products. By the addition of HZSM-5, at 450 °C alkanes content of the obtained oil with low oxygen content of 2.28%, reached a maximum of 56.27%, resulting in the highest HHV of 43.8 MJ kg(-1). High temperature favored cracking activity of HZSM-5 which reduced the char formation and contributed to the removal of carbonyl. Compared to temperature, the effect of residence time on products was relatively less; experiments indicated the optimum residence time was 15 min at which obtained oil with the highest yield of 17.78%, had better properties. Preliminary analysis of mechanisms showed biomass provided hydrogen for vegetable oil, facilitating hydrogenation of CC bonds of vegetable oil.

Investigating the influence of extractives on the oil yield and alkane production obtained from three kinds of biomass via deoxy-liquefaction

The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of extractives on the yield and composition of oil obtained from biomass samples (Artemisia ordosica, corn stalk and wheat straw). Direct deoxy-liquefaction experiments of original and extracted biomass were performed at certain temperature in a stainless steel tubular reactor. Benzene-alcohol solvent extraction had significant effect on the product distribution of biomass, especially on the yield and composition of the product oils. The oil yield of original biomass and alkane content in the oil were in the range of 5.44-9.27% and 8.23-23.64%, while decreased to 3.83-4.45% and 1.07-6.03% for the extracted biomass. This study concludes that most of alkanes in the oil mainly derive from the decomposition of triglyceride and hydrocarbon existed in the extractives of biomass. The results might be helpful to study the origin of alkanes and benzene derivatives in the oil obtained from biomass via direct deoxy-liquefaction.

Preparation and upgrading of hydrocarbon oil from deoxy-liquefaction of oil crop

Deoxy-liquefaction of cotton seed in husk was carried out to produce hydrocarbon oil at different temperatures (400-500 °C). Results indicated that at 450 °C, the obtained oil had a maximum alkanes value of 49.58% with a low oxygen content (1.4%) resulting in the increase of HHV (43.8 MJ kg(-1)), whereas the oil contained considerable nitrogenous compounds. In the presence of γ-Al2O3-CuO catalyst, at 450 °C nitrogen content in the oil dropped 20%, exhibiting the activity of catalysis for denitrification, when the content of alkanes rose to 54.91%; by vacuum distillation, the oil was then separated into light/heavy fractions which showed that they both possessed rich carbon and hydrogen with low oxygen contents. The light fractions were much the same as that of gasoline, while the heavy fractions were close to diesel, which laid the foundation of further treatment and applications.