Woody Biomass Conversion to JP-8 Fuels

This University of Maine (UMaine) Wood to Jet Fuel project has demonstrated technical and economic feasibility of producing jet fuel from renewable lignocellulosic biomass. Specific opportunities that would allow adaptation or repurposing of existing wood processing infrastructure (Kraft pulp mills, in particular) to produce jet fuel and diesel from low-cost woody biomass have been identified. The specific feedstock focus in this study was on forest residues available as low-grade wood, often used for direct combustion in wood-fired industrial boilers for their heating value, and not as a source of wood fiber. The wood to jet fuel pathway investigated in this project consists of two steps. In step one, the five- and six-carbon complex sugars in wood are converted to a liquid intermediate consisting of a mixture of Furfural, Levulinic Acid, and Formic Acid. Furfural is recovered as a co-product, and a mixture of Calcium Levulinate and Calcium Formate salts is prepared for further processing using Calcium Oxide for neutralization. In step two, the Calcium Levulinate Formate mixture is subjected to the patented Thermal DeOxygenation (TDO) process to obtain synthetic crude called TDO Oil. Solid char from the TDO reactor is burned to provide process energy, while allowing Calcium Oxide recycle. Synthetic crude TDO Oil is hydroprocessed to reduce its naphthalenes content, and then fractionated to obtain various boiling point cuts. Approximately 40% of the hydroprocessed TDO oil is in the JP-8 range, and 60% is in the F-76 range. The original document contains color images.