A hybrid of winddiesel technology with biomass-based Fischer–Tropsch synthesis

Abstract

The syngas mixture produced from biomass (bio-syngas) is characterized by a H2/CO molar ratio of 1.5 in this work, which is different from that of traditional syngas ratio of 2. Therefore a hybrid of winddiesel technology with bio-syngas conversion by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (WD-FT) on a cobalt based catalyst was investigated, for the first time, using a slurry reactor. The result from feeding this technology is compared with the direct converting biomass derived synthetic gas to fuels via Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (BS-FT). Experiments were performed at different syngas composition (variation of H2/CO ratio), keeping the other parameters (temperature 230 °C; gas flow 5 Nm3/h, pressure 20 bar) constant. Comparison of the WD-FT with the BS-FT synthesis results displayed mass fraction of light hydrocarbons and higher catalytic stability and activity after 500 h. The olefin structures for the different product distributions, obtained from different reactions, are determined by 1H NMR spectroscopy. Negligible amounts of iso-α-olefins were detected in the product of the WD-FT reaction. In the case of the alpha value, a slight change was observed between 0.93 and 0.92 for the BS-FT and WD-FT reaction.