In this study, an integrated production pathway combining fast pyrolysis and bio-oil gasification is investigated. Cellulosic biomass such as corn stover is firstly converted to bio-oil through fast pyrolysis and then bio-oil will go through gasification process to produce the syngas followed by catalytic FT synthesis and hydroprocessing to produce transportation fuels. This integrated pathway offers several advantages. Firstly, bio-oil can be produced in relatively small-sized fast pyrolysis plants at distributed locations and shipped to centralized biorefinery so that high cost of shipping bulky solid biomass over long distance could be avoided. Secondly, liquids are relatively easy to pump to high pressure than solids, so high pressure gasification technology can be implemented to improve conversion efficiency. Thirdly, as most of nitrogen and potassium are left in biochar after the fast pyrolysis, bio-oil has reduced level of ash and other contaminants, which makes the syngas cleanup easier (López-González et al., 2014; Venderbosch et al., 2002). This study aims to model the production process and evaluate the economic feasibility based on nth plant design.
The rest of paper is organized as follows: in Section 2, the methodology is presented with a focus on the process design. Then, techno-economic analysis results and analysis are discussed in Section 3. Finally, we conclude the paper in Section 4 with summary of research findings.