Refining Processes Handbook - 2020 - 109

2020 REFINING PROCESSES HANDBOOK
PROCESS CATEGORIES

COMPANY INDEX

BIOFUELS

Integrated hydropyrolysis and
hydroconversion (IH²) technology

Products: All hydrocarbon products are currently undergoing ASTM, EN and BS
qualification.
Gasoline: Meets the ASTM D4814-16d specification for regular-grade U.S.
gasoline in an E10 formulation and is EN 228: Petrol-January 2009 compliant
in an E10 formulation. Gasoline is also BS VI compliant for India in an E6 blend
for regular grade.
Diesel: Improved catalyst systems have also been developed for the diesel
fraction that have resulted in water-white distillate that meets the ASTM D975-

Gas

REACTOR

Hydrogen
plant

Hydroconversion
Water

Biomass
Woody biomass
Agricultural residue
Algae
Sorted municipal solid waste

Naphtha
Jet fuel
Marine distillate CO2

Biochar

Fuel

Description: The IH² process has four primary elements, as shown in the process
flow diagram:
1. Biomass conditioning: sizing to approximately 3 mm and drying to
10 wt%-30 wt% moisture to optimize fluidization and devolatilization
2. Hydrodeoxygenation of the devolatilized biomass over proprietary catalysts in
the presence of low-pressure hydrogen. This mainly serves to remove oxygen
and to cap reactive free radicals to provide a stable raw hydrocarbon product.
3. Fixed-bed hydroconversion, which uses other proprietary catalysts to
polish the product from the hydrodeoxygenation step and transform it
into a finished hydrocarbon fuel or blend stock
4. Conversion of the light gases generated during hydrodeoxygenation in a
hydrogen manufacturing unit to produce renewable hydrogen in sufficient
quantity to supply all the process needs.
The individual elements of the process are all available at commercial scale,
which minimizes design and operational risks, and enables rapid implementation.
The first commercial applications will process woody biomass. In the future,
we also aim to use agricultural residues and, eventually, municipal solid-wastederived feedstocks in commercial applications.

Hydropyrolysis

REACTOR

Application: A continuous catalytic thermochemical process that provides a costeffective route for producing fungible, liquid hydrocarbon transportation fuels from
renewable resources, the IH² process converts a broad range of residues, including
forestry, agricultural, aquacultural and sorted municipal waste (up to 20% plastic
content), to gasoline, jet fuel and diesel-range hydrocarbon fuels and/or blend stocks.

Fuel
Gasoline
Diesel

Separator

H2
Compressor

15c specification for regular-grade U.S. diesel. It is also EN 590:2009+A1:2010
compliant with cetane boosters, and BS VI compliant for India.
Jet fuel: Jet fuels are now in the ASTM D4054 approvals process and match
the Table 1 Performance Criteria for World-wide Civil Jet Fuel Grade Jet A/A-1
(e.g., ASTM D1655).

Advantages:
* IH² technology produces hydrocarbon fuels that are compatible with
conventional fuel blending practices.
* IH2 technology provides up to 76% energy recovery and up to 92% lower
greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil-fuel equivalents.
* Initial tests suggest that diesel produced from IH2 technology burns
with lower nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbon and particulate emissions
than fossil fuel equivalents.
* Energy recovery is three to four times greater than any other waste-to-energy
project, including second generation ethanol.
Continued 
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Refining Processes Handbook - 2020

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