Investigation of Naphtha-Type Biofuel from a Novel Refinery Process 2022-01-0752

In order to reduce the carbon footprint of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), biofuels have been in use for a number of years. One of the problems with first-generation (1G) biofuels however is their competition with food production. In search of second-generation (2G) biofuels, that are not in competition with food agriculture, a novel biorefinery process has been developed to produce biofuel from woody biomass sources. This novel technique, part of the Belgian federal government funded Ad-Libio project, uses a catalytic process that operates at low temperature and is able to convert 2G feedstock into a stable light naphtha. The bulk of the yield consists out of hydrocarbons containing five to six carbon atoms, along with a fraction of oxygenates and aromatics. The oxygen content and the aromaticity of the hydrocarbons can be varied, both of which have a significant influence on the fuel’s combustion and emission characteristics when used in Internal Combustion Engines. When used as a blend component, this novel 2G biofuel could help increase the sustainability of vehicle fuels. But, while exhaustive experimental and, although lesser in number, numerical investigations on combustion behavior have been performed for 1G biofuels, less information is available for 2G biofuels and especially this novel naphtha-like fuel. An extensive fuel compound property database and a fuel blend property calculator is readily available in literature, but their validity has not been tested for the novel 2G biofuel components.

This article provides a first screening of the usability of these light naphtha components as blend components for gasoline and diesel drop-in fuels, by means of a freely available fuel component database and fuel blend calculator, concluding with an initial assessment of achievable blends and pointing out where further work is needed.