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March
2017
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HYDROCARBON
ENGINEERING
M
any government agencies and startup
companies have promoted the development of
chemical materials that they plan to sell as
renewable products in the growing green
economy. These organisations have spent so long
considering how to convert a resource (biomass and crop
products) into a practical feedstock that they have not
worked out the next step of upgrading or refining the
biofeedstocks into finished products that are ready for
market or for use as recognised intermediates. This article
will address some of the lessons learned in the course of
working on the upgrading and refining objectives for these
‘crude’ sources during pilot-scale processing.
Biofeedstocks, including crop oils, alcohols, and
concentrated plant materials, characteristically have the
benefits of high hydrogen content and low sulfur content,
and fall into the boiling point range of fuels and
hydrocarbon intermediates. Manufacturers are urgently
seeking ways to make specification jet fuel, diesel fuel, and
even naphtha fuels from these sources. Catalyst and
process licensing organisations have responded with
adaptations of existing refining and upgrading methods.
The variety and variability of the new feedstocks remain a
challenge for immediate commercial application, leading to
errors in determining operating variables and estimating
process throughput and selectivity.
The essential intermediate step of a pilot-scale trial of
a proposed processing scheme has often been overlooked
in the interest of perceived lower cost and speed. Several
regrettable failures have reinforced the need for robust
data for the engineering package, upon which to design a
plant and its operations. The work completed at Southwest
Research Institute (SwRI) provides the opportunity to
address pilot plant implementations of proposed
LESSONS
LEARNED
Jimell Erwin, Ph.D.,
Southwest Research Institute,
USA,
outlines how pilot-scale
testing can help to assess the
rewards and challenges of
bioderived feedstocks.