Hydrothermal liquefaction - the most promising path to a sustainable bio-oil production

A new generation of the HTL process can convert all kinds of biomasses to crude bio-oil, which is sufficiently similar to fossil crude oil that a simple thermal upgrade and existing refinery technology can be employed to subsequently obtain all the liquid fuels we know today. What is more, the HTL process only consumes approximately 10-15 percent of the energy in the feedstock biomass, yielding an energy efficiency of 85-90 percent.

To emphasize, the HTL process accepts all biomasses from modern society – sewage sludge, manure, wood, compost and plant material along with waste from households, meat factories, dairy production and similar industries.

…Full text: www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/au-hl020613.php

Tags: pyrolysis, bio-ethanol, gasification, catalytic upgrading, heat energy, H₂O