Co-processing of lignocellulosic biocrude with petroleum gas oils

Abstract A biocrude was obtained via the catalytic hydrothermal treatment of lignocellulosic biomass. This was further co-hydroprocessed with Straight Run Gas Oil (SRGO) under desulphurization conditions. Amounts of biocrude of up to 20 wt% could be co-processed, while maintaining a diesel stream density within the specifications contained in the road diesel regulation EN 590. The changes in the diesel properties associated with an increasing amount of biocrude were not a simple linear function of biocrude content. Rather, some positive correlations seem to exist between biocrude and SRGO at low biocrude contents, possibly due to intramolecular hydrogen transfer, yielding a diesel stream with a better quality than would be obtained from simply mixing hydrotreated pure streams in a 80% to 20% ratio.