The International Congress and Expo on Biofuels & Bioenergy, August 25-27, Valencia, Spain featured the topic of one of their presenters on their website earlier this week: Production of biocrude oil by waste biomass CatLiq process and characterization of oils. The research was conducted by Dr. Parvana Aksoy (photo) from the TUBITAK MRC Energy Institute located in Turkey. She is currently a senior researcher on gasification and combustion and previously spent time at Penn State University (USA) where she conducted research on the development of thermally stable jet fuels for six years.

The scientific abstract of the research project and related experiments defined what it considers to be waste biomass categories related to the paper industry—saw dust, black liquor, paper mill sludge, bark, and bio gasification sludge. The densities of resulting biocrude oils put through the experimental process "CatLiq" (catalytic liquifacation) were ~1.10 gcm higher than the density of petroleum crude oils. Crude bio-oils resulting from this new type of bio-converting process were complex mixtures of hundreds of organic compounds, including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ketones, phenols, and lignin-derived oligomers. 

Although this form of bio-crude contains water and some undesirable traits of bio-based oil solutions,in addition to being an effective fuel for boilers, it can make a suitable transport fuel after upgrading as well as used for the production of chemicals and resins for use in the agricultural and emissions control industries as well as an effective adhesive for bio-based adhesives. Some of the resulting crude oils, depending on the exact feedstock used during the experiment, can be mixed with petroleum crude up to 3% and refined together. 

More information about Dr. Aksoy and her research, including the original research abstract text, is available online.