Verification of production of stabilized pyrolysis oil at Cortus – step 1

Category: Hypothesis testing projects

The project ran between May 2021 and February 2022.

Cortus Energy AB’s concept, WoodRoll®, converts wood residues via pyrolysis and gasification to a biobased synthesis gas. It is of interest to expand the concept to production of high-quality biobased products via upgrading of the pyrolysis vapours. The purpose of this project was to verify production of stabilized pyrolysis oil, via catalytic hydrotreating of the pyrolysis vapours, in Cortus’ facility in Höganäs.

An experimental set-up from RISE was used for the tests where first a slip stream of the pyrolysis vapours was condensed to a liquid and the non-condensable gas was continuously analyzed and used as a reference case. Then, the pyrolysis vapours were catalyzed in a hydrogen atmosphere, using a catalyst provided by Haldor Topsoe, followed by condensation and analysis of the gas. The results from the tests showed that the catalytic upgrading of the pyrolysis vapor gave a pyrolysis oil with improved stability properties, i.e., decreased oxygen and carbonyl content, compared with pyrolysis oil from thermal slow pyrolysis. This indicates that there is a possibility to use this oil to produce more high value products, such as biofuels and chemicals.

Participants

Cortus AB, RISE and Haldor Topsoe A/S.

Budget

The project’s total budget was 1 MSEK.

Technical and market evaluation of production of stabilized pyrolysis oil via catalytic hydrotreatment – step 2