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[rickgresham]

I'm trying to learn more about the relative performance of biomass gasfication+fischer tropsch versus pyrolysis+hydrotreating. Velocys has scalable microchannel FT reactors, UOP and others are developing hydrotreating catalysts and processes. I'm trying to get a handle on which is likely to turn biomass into finished fuels (gasoline and diesel) more efficiently. I've read that gasification and FT are both lower efficieny in terms of finished products out the door but pyrolysis+hydrotreating consumes a lot of hydrogen that's probably best sourced by reforming the carbohydrate fraction which means half the oil production could go to making H2. On the other hand, FT produces a lot of wax and the products require hydrocracking which also consumes hydrogen.

Anyone know enough about these two processes to offer an opionion as to which is likely to produce more fuel from a given quantity of biomass?

Edited by rickgresham, 19 September 2009 - 09:59 AM.

[StealthProg]

Why not produce Methanol via gasification, increase the efficiency of the infernal combustion engine, reduce its weight and cut of the inefficient FT processes at the same time?