Des Plaines, Ill., nonprofit R&D organization Gas Technology Institute signed an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with CRI/Criterion Inc., a subsidiary of the Shell Group, for its integrated hydropyrolysis and hydroconversion (IH2) technology. The process is capable of converting virtually any type of nonfood cellulosic biomass feedstock directly into finished gasoline and diesel hydrocarbon blendstocks and chemicals.

According to Terry Marker, bioenergy initiatives manager for GTI, the firm’s IH2 technology is an advanced pyrolysis technology that uses low-pressure hydrogen together with a proprietary catalyst supplied by CRI/Criterion, which removes virtually all of the oxygen present in the starting biomass to produce finished hydrocarbon product. Houston-based CRI/Criterion is an international supplier of advanced catalysts, services and technology to the refining, petrochemical and renewable fuel industries.

“We don’t require any external hydrogen because we’re producing it all from the C1 to C3 gases from within the process,” Marker told Biorefining Magazine.

Since last year, GTI and CRI/Criterion have collaborated on refining GTI’s IH2 technology when the institute received funding from the U.S. DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of Biomass Program, under the integrated biorefinery initiative in support for the pilot project in Des Plaines. In addition to CRI/Criterion, project participants include Cargill Inc., Johnston Timber, Aquaflow, Blue Marble Energy, National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Michigan Technological University.

GTI’s IH2 platform is exothermic and takes out much of the oxygen content and introduces hydrogen directly in the pyrolysis process, according to Marker, which eliminates coking issues commonly associated with conventional methods.

“Because we’re doing hydropyrolysis we don’t have any [coking problems] so we’re able to put a hot filter that keeps all of the free radicals out of the oil,” Marker said. “When the oil comes out the end, we get a water and hydrocarbon phase, making it an easy separation.”

Although the IH2 technology isn’t commercially available yet, Marker said the technology would be economical for both small- and large-scale applications. One industry in particular that came to mind, she said, may be the wood products industry.

“The technology could definitely benefit biomass producers, like timber product firms, that may be looking to convert their waste streams into something that has a really good, immediate market for it,” Marker said. “We feel that’s sort of the key to success—to make something people really want as opposed to making something that requires more processing by somebody else.”

According to Marker, much of the gasoline and diesel yields GTI received during its pilot assessment were in batch quantities and depended largely on the type of biomass introduced. “For wood, we’re getting about 26 percent gasoline plus diesel with oxygen content,” Marker said, adding that GTI found the octane value of gasoline derived from wood to be at a respectable 89. “It’s about the same yields as you’d get if you took the pyrolysis oil and upgraded it in a hydrotreater, except we make a finished hydrocarbon product. For algae, we make about 46 percent gasoline plus diesel.”

Although it will continue to conduct pilot testing, Marker said GTI intends to build a larger pilot unit capable of continually processing 50 kilograms of dry biomass per day, which will enable the organization to assess data based on continuous operations on a larger scale.

“Our goal is to get a lot of hours on the catalyst to show that it has stability, and that we can keep running in real time,” Marker said.