Catalytic co-hydrothermal liquefaction of binary and ternary mixtures of rye straw, shellfish and beef tallow for sustainable production of high-grade biocrude-oil to drop-in transport fuel
The transport sector is the highest consumer of fossil fuels accounting for 96% of the global energy, which correspond to 65% of the global crude oil consumption. The escalating consumption of fossil fuel causes deleterious environmental pollution by releasing > 7 billion tons of CO2 in the atmosphere. The awareness to transition from conventional fossil fuel to eco-friendly options has resulted in several decarbonization strategies with Europe’s priority to develop new alternative and carbon-neutral energy sources based on a cost-effective biomass-based thermochemical conversion. Hence, the objective of CO-HTL4BIO-OIL is to develop commercially viable catalytic co-hydrothermal liquefaction (CO-HTL) that converts 2G wet solid food by-products such as rye straw, shellfish, and beef tallow into a sustainable transport fuel with potential 100% atom efficiency, low production costs, and zero CO2 emissions. The specific experiments include: (1) identify proper pretreatment prior to CO-HTL for efficient removal of undesirable heteroatoms (2) validate baseline Lab-scale CO-HTL by determining integrated models of HTL parameters and proportions of binary/ternary mixtures; (3) establish efficient catalytic upgrading to bring the HTL intermediate bio-crude oil to drop-in transport fuel; (4) carry out bench-scale HTL for techno-economic assessment.  It is anticipated that an in-depth study on the HTL parameters, optimization of the CO-HTL process, and techno-economic assessment will provide an outlook scenario of the industrial-scale process for high biofuels production capacity. Therefore, CO-HTL4BIO-OIL will diversify my scientific competences in renewable energy and equip me with new transferable skills. Thus, combining my skills in carbon-based biomaterials with the host’s expertise in advanced biofuels, a mutual benefit will be realized. The project will positively impact Europe’s knowledge-based economy and society towards sustainable and green transportation.