Structural analysis of Catliq^® bio-oil produced by catalytic liquid conversion of biomass

The potential offered by biomass for solving some of the world's energy problems is widely recognized. The energy contained in biomass can be utilized either directly as in combustion or by converting the biomass into a liquid fuel for transportation. The Catliq^® (catalytic liquid conversion) process is a second generation process for the production of bio-oil from different biomass-based waste materials. The process is carried out at subcritical conditions (280-350 °C and 180-250 bar) and in the presence of homogeneous (KOH) and heterogeneous (ZrO₂) catalysts. The great advantage with the CatLiq^® process compared with combustion is that also wet material can be processed. In the process, the waste is transformed to bio-oil, combustible gases and water-soluble organic compounds. The raw material used in this study was DDGS (Dried Distilled Grain with Solubles), a residual product in 1^st generation ethanol production, available in huge quantities. DDGS is today used as animal feed but in a future with increasing production of DDGS, converting it into bio-oil may be an attractive alternative. The bio-oil can be used for green electricity production or it can be upgraded to bio-diesel. In the current work, catalytic conversion of DDGS was performed in a pilot plant with a capacity of 10-20 L/h of wet biomass. The oil obtained was characterized using FTIR and GC-MS for both qualitative and quantitative analysis of the product.