Director of Research Visionary Fiber Technologies Lockhart, Texas, United States
Abstract: Renewable Diesel (RD) and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) are drop in fuels with nearly identical solubility properties as petroleum. The use of RD and SAF results in a more complete combustion process, leading to a substantial reduction in particulate matter and soot emissions, and thus a significant decrease in air pollution when compared to traditional petroleum-based fuels. Additionally, these fuels, by definition, are derived from renewable sources with waste oils and lipids having substantially lower carbon footprints.
Conversion of biologically derived lipids into RD/SAF proceeds with hydrogenation and high temperature catalytic cracking. The catalysts used for this transformation are quite sensitive to many natural contaminants found in the raw lipid feedstocks. These contaminants include Ca, Mg, Na, K, P, Ni, V, Si, Cu, Zn, Cl and S. Removal of these contaminants is required before processing. Common methods for the removal of these contaminants utilize solid sorbents such as bleaching clay, hydrated silica or, more commonly, a combination of the two along with high-speed centrifuges.
A low-cost method has been developed for the removal of contaminants. This process involves the use of solvent with high affinity for the contaminants in combination with a novel packed reactor. The solvent and contaminated oil are continuously injected into the reactor packing such that exceedingly thin “ribbons” of solvent and oil are produced. These ribbons pass through the column with unusually high surface contact enhancing the mass transfer rate. A single pass through the packed reactor reduces the contaminant concentration by approximately 10-fold (see Table 1). This process has been developed in laboratory settings and demonstrated at a commercial scale.
Significant advantages of this process include:
-Low capex -Exceedingly low opex -No use of solid sorbents -Exceedingly low yield loss due to no oil lost into sorbents -No use of centrifuges
Detailed results of the process will be discussed as well as techniques and common solvents.
