Bionic µfuel technology unlocks potential of Lignin

As early as 2009 experiments have been conducted using pure lignin as a sample feedstock for Bionic's µfuel technology. A detailed report about the laboratory level tests has been published by a scientific partner, Erik Karlsen, in a Danish chemical journal. An English translation can be downloaded from Bionic servers: "From Lignin to Oil by Microwaves".

The central finding from the above report: the studied liquid product phase consisted of more than 85% phenols and still more than 75% methoxy phenols. This result suggests a significantly more homogeneous liquid phase from the Bionic µfuel process than reported so far in any other available paper on Lignin treatment with various (catalytic) pyrolysis methods. Commonly extremely heterogeneous combinations of complex aromatic molecules are found where good yields of highly homogeneous chemical substances are necessary for further conversion or processing into the final lignin derived building blocks which can economically serve as the raw material for future bioplastics like novel polyesters.

The Bionic µfuel Laboratory Reactor used for Lignin testing

The conversion of Lignin into higher value products is the primary challenge for the global cellulose and wood processing industries. Lignin alone makes up a share of 25-30 wt.% of all processed dry wood for cellulose and hemicellulose pulp extraction which is later used for paper, fiber and bioethanol production.

A lot more about the composition and properties of wood can be found at the excellent Pulp & Paper Resource & Information Site.

Despite billions of R&D money spent to date convincing pathways for lignin upgrading have yet to be identified. Scientific work usually labels the pyrolysis of lignin as highly promising for the building blocks of a future biochemical industry, but no true break throughs for commercial application are reported. Thus, enormous quantities of high quality lignin, estimated at more than 50M tons/year are still seen as a waste product and used primarily as a solid fuel for conventional industrial boilers.

A Frost & Sullivan study focusing on the commercial potential of lignin predicts it will become the most important natural aromatic raw material for future biochemicals with a combined market potential of more than USD 130 Billion at current market conditions.

Being the only natural and renewable source of aromatic compounds, lignin is one of the three major components of plant cell walls which together make up 90% of the cells biomass. Possible sources are wood, wheat and rice straw and grasses.

Currently Bionic is embarking on an extensive test program with major industry players to transform the promising lab results into a successful industrial application using the Bionic µfuel range of microwave conversion reactors.

Bionic µfuel modular design proves advantageous

mf480 reactor details

Bionic µfuel reactor and plant designs have come a long way over the recent 10 years of intense R&D work in the development labs. Starting from the drawing board and moving on to CAD workstations, performing endless process simulations in the technology lab and later on the first continuous pilot, all the way to the current mf60 prototype plants many details where refined and fine tuned literally thousands of times. During all that time, however, one fundamental cornerstone of Bionic's design principles was never questioned: the extremely modular design utilizing only the most tested, most proven assembly parts and modules available preferably off the shelf. This principle effectively differentiates Bionic's µfuel technology from practically all comparable technology designs out there.

For many years the huge advantages of such a design approach for on time project delivery, operational stability, easy scaling of plant size and ultimately capital and operational expenditure could only be explained theoretically.

This has changed with the recent mf60 commercial demonstrator now in prototype testing for something over 7 months, preparing for a first continuous 250 hour run coming up around the corner. We finally have plenty of hard evidence supporting the mantra of stubbornly insisting on uncompromising modularity. During the prototype testing period dozens of small changes and adjustments have been incorporated, often completed in a few hours. And even the major mf60 redesign described in this article required a suspension of test operations for barely 3 weeks.

Following the Bionic scaling philosophy the mf60 is nothing else than a down-scaled mf480, the latter being the bionicfuel reference reactor type for standard commercial plants. However large an individual plant might get, it will be built around clustered sets of always the same mf480 reactor units and the mf480 unit can even be temporarily reduced to around half its specified capacity with a corresponding reduction in microwave units. The consequences of this concept for the early commercial roll out are enormous.

Instead of monolithic, untested conversion plants budgeted at several hundred million USD, Bionic can offer clients a project approach incorporating risk management via a well controlled scale up process. Each reactor can be factory assembled, tested and certified against specifications even before leaving the manufacturer site. After shipping the installation process on site is a matter of weeks before final client acceptance can begin.

A factory and on-site certified single reactor system can then be rapidly upgraded by simply bringing in more of the identical reactor units combining them with standard feedstock preparation and product upgrading equipment.     

More rigorous testing upcoming for the bionicfuel mf60 prototype

Since the switch has been turned for the first time in August 2013 starting up the mf60 commercial demonstrator at the premises of SMERAL in Brno the engineers performed endless test runs while improving and fixing numerous design and engineering details.

Simply put, they where doing exactly what a prototype is meant to be used for: trial, error detection and correction... Preparing a rock solid processing core for serial production that is ready for 24/7 hard core operation when it reaches a production site for installation. Most fixes required just from a couple of hours to a day or two. But eventually in early January 2014 careful review of collected test data resulted in the decision to proceed with a major redesign of the vapor off-take from the main reactor vessel, an effort which would interrupt test operations and scheduled demonstrations for several weeks.

SMERAL engineers did a great job in preparing and implementing the revised design in only 3 weeks. The almost finished result can be seen below:

redesigned mf60 reactor unit

The new design results in a significantly lower height, making the reactor more robust and energy efficient. Durability will be further improved by repositioning the microwave units for optimized cooling.

Once all measures are completed, a continuous test run for a minimum of 10 days is scheduled which will be monitored by an independent certification agency.   

The official bionicfuel video... The Past - The Present - The Future

One month after the bionicfuel mf60d went public...

It's been hectic times for everyone at Bionic ever since the bionicfuel mf60 experienced its world premier at the industry fair at Brno last month. While a demonstration reactor was on exhibition at the booth on the fairgrounds, a fully functional unit was available for demonstrations at the test location within the SMERAL factory premises.

The most impressive stream of high profile and expert visitors has in fact not ended with the fair, where the bionicfuel Technology was honored with a prestigious award "Innovative Product of the Year 2013" delivered by the Industry Minister himself. We experience an unexpected ongoing flood of interest from around the world in a visit to the demonstration plant. The waiting list is so long that any end is simply out of sight...

Innovative Product of the Year 2013 awarded by the Industry Minister

Another outcome of the last few weeks is quite a number of new opportunities for far reaching cooperation and project delivery agreements. We are confident, that we can publish a lot of exciting news over the coming weeks and months. The commercialization of the technology has truly begun.

Bionic µBTL mf60d demonstrator entered test phase

Earlier this week the mf60d commercial demonstrator has been switched on for the first time, a success made possible by the excellent collaboration between Bionic R&D and its prime manufacturer SMERAL s.a. Brno in the Czech Republic.

See this Post by Bionic Laboratories BLG GmbH.

A few weeks of rigorous testing and adjustments have been kicked off. This phase includes a formal certification process by independent experts. Presentations for selected clients will commence afterwards.

Full public announcements can be expected in the first half of October.

Congratulations to everyone working hard to make this a success...

An operational mf60D complete with 2 condensers
and one quencher for the liquid fraction

New Bionic µBTL reactor type announced

Bionic microfuel mf60 core element expecting assembly

Over the last year the Bionic Fuel Group has designed a new small scale MWDP reactor mf60 which is currently under construction at Bionic's manufacturer Smeral Brno a.s. in the Czech Republic. One of the special features of the mf60 design is its capability to house a complete plant in up to 4 standard 40' containers, resulting in completely mobile MWDP processing plants. Combined with the relevant feedstock preparation modules and the necessary oil upgrading functions all MWDP feedstock types can be processed on this mobile platform. On average the unit is able to process 250kg of dry feedstock per hour.

As a reminder, MWDP, Bionic's microwave depolymerization technology economically converts organic materials like biomass, plastic waste, used tires and many more into high value liquid and solid fuels. The process utilizes a zeolite catalyst augmented by the application of modulated microwaves.

Once the core unit is completed it will undergo rigid test processing at the manufacturer's site, first internally and then under audit of a renown certification authority. The formal certification will greatly enhance funding options for several large microfuel projects currently in the pipeline. Selected clients will have the opportunity to see the unit in operation during this phase.

Subsequently the qualification plant will be adapted to fully simulate the process of plastic waste conversion. Extensive test and demonstration runs will be performed in order to fully qualify plastic waste as feedstock for large scale microfuel plants. This activity will form an important step towards a scale up process resulting in a full scale pilot plant to be installed at a waste treatment facility in Germany.

As still another step the equipment will thereafter go back to the manufacturer to get rigged up for the planned 4 container set up including all the auxiliary modules necessary for feedstock preparation and product upgrading. The included CHP does not only make the plant independent from external power supply but is also capable of converting all of the produced oil into electricity thus reducing disposal problems for shorter term demonstration runs. This fully mobile plant will go on tour to visit several of our long term potential clients for extensive on-site test and demonstration runs in preparation for long planned large plant orders.

Surprisingly we have already received a number of requests from clients who show high interest to acquire this size of plant for their own specialty purposes. Clean-up of contaminated soil and biochar production are only 2 of the potential commercial uses for this type of unit. Bionic expects to close a number of orders over the first 6 months of the year. 

Is Bionic's MWDP a pyrolysis process?

In order to explore in depth the potential of the microfuel technology we need to compare it with other liquefying technologies on the market.

Today I want to start with MWDP's closest relative: pyrolysis.

Task 34 of the IEA Bioenergy initiative focuses on Pyrolysis from Biomass. They run a very informative website that has been around for some time and was integrated into Task 34 some time ago. I suggest visiting that site to anyone who wants to know more.

What is pyrolysis?

The most simple definition can be found on the mentioned website: "Pyrolysis is thermal decomposition occurring in the absence of oxygen". Following that definition MWDP is definitely a form of pyrolysis as the decomposition is at least in part thermal, while assisted by microwaves and the zeolite as explained in the MWDP article. On the other hand, it doesn't easily fit into any of the common categories of pyrolysis.

What types of pyrolysis can be identified?

Usually 3 types of pyrolysis are recognized: Fast, intermediate and slow. Most data of the following table is again taken from the definitions on the Task34 website (MWDP data has been added by us):

Mode	Conditions	Liquid	Char	Gas
Fast	≈500°C, short hot vapor residence time >1sec	75%	12%	13%
Intermediate	≈500°C, hot vapor residence time 10-30 sec	50%	25%	25%
Slow-Torrefaction	≈290°C, solids residence time 30 min	-	82%	18%
Slow-Carbonization	≈400°C, long vapor residence time, hrs > days	30%	35%	35%
Gasification	≈800°C	5%	10%	85%
MWDP	≈280°C, solids residence time 30-45 min	35%	50%	15%

We can see clearly that MWDP fits in none of the 3 categories. Lower temperatures also suggest a higher energy efficiency of the process. Next lets have a look at typical quality parameters.

Pyrolysis oil is usually called bio-oil, which is a bit misleading at a water content between 20-30% which cannot be separated easily. It can only be burned in direct combustion or upgraded in complex, large scale refinery-style processing. The pyrolysis liquid has a very low heating value of typically 16-19 MJ/kg. For more quality information see again our reference website.

Now we compare this with what we call bio-oil in the MWDP process: Water content is usually below 3%, direct combustion is a possibility, but it can better be used directly in any HFO specified engine, which are usually stationary diesel engines in power plants or on ships. The biggest quality difference can be noticed in the heating value, which reaches up to 45 MJ/kg, similar to standard diesel fuel. Upgrading of MWDP derived bio-oil to achieve ultra low sulfur diesel or SPK (=biojetfuel) is a relatively simple process mostly involving 2 phases: a secondary distillation and a hydrotreatment, both typical phases in any modern refinery.

But not only the MWDP bio-oil shows such big quality differences, the same thing is true for the char fraction. Heating values of up to 30 MJ/kg are unprecedented in any other pyrolysis technology as much as other quality parameters. MWDP char meets the highest quality parameters of industrial applications, where all other biochar was rejected as insufficient.

So where might the future of pyrolysis lie?

Some authors have started already to add a forth category of catalyst assisted processes. While not yet commonly accepted, that is actually the right category for TCDP and MWDP and probably the only category that will be able to bring about true innovation for pyrolysis.

BTL Biomass-to-Liquid for Dummies

Today I am writing about some of the basics behind Thermo Catalytic Depolymerization (TCDP) and Bionic's more advanced version Microwave Depolymerization (MWDP) or µBTL. In fact both processes are the latest in advanced pyrolysis technologies adding the improved cracking capabilities of zeolite catalysts and microwave application to a core process known for thousands of years. It was really hard to get started with this and I kept pushing it away. I am not a writer by profession so this doesn't look like great fun to me. But I do believe it is important to share some insight with my readers about the rather simple background behind these fascinating processes.

First of all we should learn a little bit about oil in general and petroleum or crude oil in particular. Luckily there is Wikipedia, where they have done a great job on those subjects. So please let me refer you to here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil

and

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crude_oil
and ask you to come back...

Lots of interesting stuff, isn't it?

As far as crude oil goes, you have seen the two theories about the origin of fossil oils. After doing a lot of research I came to believe that both theories have true value of their own. Funny how they were used as a tool for the capitalist/communist confrontation during the cold war. I really can't see a problem in the coexistence of both theories. However, any resources from a possible abiotic origin would be generally so deep down towards the center of the earth that they won't be within reach for a long time to come.

Now I would like to draw your attention to the article on synthetic oil. Wikipedia is still a bit weak here. The Fischer-Tropsch (FT) process definitely is a synthetic process, but the extraction of crude oil from tar sands has certainly not the least to do with a synthetic process. It is mere separation of sand and tar (=crude oil) which is later refined in traditional petrochemical ways. What makes the process so expensive is the separation of tar and sand, not the subsequent refining. It should be noted here, that MWDP actually offers an environmentally much cleaner, and less "equipment eating" option for this separation. No water or steam needed, no steel consuming direct contact processing.

Let's move on to the closely related subject of synthetic fuel. If you went through at least most of the linked reading material above, things should get fairly easy by now. What we are primarily interested in here is Biomass-To-Liquids (BTL), while everything else gives us a great background, because we can see now how closely related all these processes actually are. We also find catalytic depolymerization (CDP) mentioned for the first time and a link to Jim Trounson's website on this subject.

Going through all that information establishes a good basis for what we are headed for. Please bear with me a little longer. Those of you who want to get some insight in the controversial and sometimes heated debates of the self claimed experts out there, get yourself a large cup of coffee and start reading this thread on the BioDieselNow forum. If you start your reading there you immediately run into thermal depolymerization (TDP) as some kind of alternative to CDP.

Now let's start shedding some light on the confusion I have probably created by now.

All BTL processes and technologies have one thing in common: They intend to convert organic substances from various sources (natural or artificial) into oil or fuel. Typical sources are all types of organic waste streams from biomass to plastics, paper and cardboard or any type of biomass deriving from energy crop. Converting hydrocarbons (oils, fats, proteins) is widely considered an easy task compared with the conversion of carbohydrates (fibrous and cellulosic materials) into fuel.

BTL processes can be easily separated into two classes:

• (1) Gasification of feedstock with a subsequent FT synthesis
• (2) Depolymerization including Pyrolysis

(1) Gasification plus FT breaks down organic feedstock in an initial gasification phase to a gaseous mixture called syngas containing mainly just the basic molecules (CO and H). In a second phase the gas is converted into synthetic fuel using the FT process.

(2) Depolymerization achieves the same result, however, by converting the feedstock molecules directly to the intended result without breaking them down to the smallest possible structure first, before resynthesising them back to the intended larger molecular structures. Therefore depolymerization can achieve the same result with a much smaller energy input. The tricky part is how to sufficiently control the reactions.

Depolymerization itself can be broken down further in thermal depolymerization (TDP) and thermo catalytic depolymerization (TCDP) which is in my opinion falsely often abbreviated into catalytic depolymerization (CDP). Pyrolysis can be seen as the most important form of TDP.

Adding a catalyst to basic TDP technologies improves the process in several ways: First the breaking down or cracking of the large feedstock molecules requires less energy and second, a modern zeolite catalyst assists in better control over the reactions. While metal oxides contained in the zeolites facilitate the reaction itself, its molecular sieve properties allow for control.

I am aware that this is an extremely simplified explanation of what is really happening in highly complex chemo-physical mass-reactions, but it is that primitive model that helped me to understand what's going on. After all, I do not consider myself a scientist.

If you look at the first patent I was able to identify that goes back to the early 1920ties, the process worked at the IG Farben laboratories with simple metal oxide catalysts. Zeolites and their special capabilities where not yet known at the time.

A well publicized implementation of TDP was done by Changing World Technologies Inc. (CWT) at a Carthage, Missouri plant where they produce oil from animal waste (turkey offal). Energy is applied to the process through pressure and heat. It can be assumed, that some hydrogenation is taking place in the first stage. CWT is a clear proof that the chemo physical process of TDP works, while it still has to overcome some technical problems.

There are quite a number of other implementations of TDP around the globe with less publicity. A very recent one in Germany MME Technology AG (website not available anymore as the company went into receivership) for example claimed to successfully process straw. It should be noted that straw is a mainly carbohydrate biomass feedstock. (After this article was written MME went into receivership. No project has ever been completed)

As I have tried to set up the big picture with this chapter, I will use the next one to explore somewhat closer the details of TCDP. So come back for more soon...