INTEGRATED PROCESSES FOR PRODUCING FUELS AND BIOFERTILIZERS FROM BIOMASS AND PRODUCTS PRODUCED

摘要

An IBTL system having a low GHG footprint for converting biomass to liquid fuels in which a biomass feed is converted to liquids by direct liquefaction and the liquids are upgraded to produce premium fuels. Biomass residues from the direct liquefaction, and optionally additional biomass is pyrolyzed to produce structured biochar, hydrogen for the liquefaction and upgrading, and CO2 for conversion to algae, including blue green algae (cyanobacteria) in a photobioreactor (PBR). Produced algae and diazotrophic microorganisms are used to produce a biofertilizer that also contains structured biochar. The structured biochar acts as a nucleation agent for the algae in the PBR, as a absorption agent to absorb inorganics from the biomass feed to direct liquefaction or from the liquids produced thereby, and as a water retention agent in the biofertilizer. The ratio of cyanobacteria to diazotrophic microorganisms in the biofertilizer can be selected to optimize the so as to achieve desired total chemically active carbon and nitrogen contents in the soil for a given crop.

主权项

1. A method converting biomass to liquid fuels and cyanobacteria based biofertilizer, comprising the steps of:
a. directly liquefying a biomass feed by hydroprocessing said feed under conditions and for a time sufficient for producing hydrocarbon liquids; b. upgrading hydrocarbon liquids produced by step a to produce liquid fuels and/or chemical feedstocks, and byproduct ammonia; c. producing structured biochar and byproduct CO2 by pyrolysis of biomass residues produced in step a; d. producing algae including cyanobacteria in a photobioreactor (PBR) with the use of byproduct CO2 produced by one or both of said direct liquefaction and biochar producing steps; and e. producing a biofertilizer incorporating biochar and algae produced in steps c. and d.