Development of an automated method for modelling of bio-crudes originating from biofuel production processes based on thermochemical conversion

Abstract

The prominence of biofuel research is growing as the global energy policies focus on renewable energy technologies. Accurate process design and simulation is required when evaluating technological and market capabilities of large scale, novel, fuel production processes. Thermochemical decomposition, employed in various biofuel production routes (pyrolysis, liquefaction, and so on) yields complex liquid mixtures (bio-crudes) containing numerous compounds. The process simulation of such processes must accurately represent the physical, thermodynamic and chemical properties of bio-crudes, while reducing complexity to a point where it can be handled by a process simulator in a time effective manner. In this work, a software employing automated modelling of bio-crudes based on raw experimental data, has been developed. The program output is a ready-to-use reduced mixture, including all product phases and in mass balance with the Proximate and Ultimate analyses of the feedstock biomass material. As there are many approaches to bio-crude modelling, the novelty of this method lies in the combination of the minimization of the number of components needed and the minimization of the level of artificiality introduced in the system. The automation of the method allowed for fast reduction and optimization of seven experimental data sets which were then validated by process simulation.