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Jan 23, 2012

ALTERNATIVE FUELS * USA

* Massachusetts - Catalyst boosts biomass petchem output. Chemical engineers increase yields 40%

Amherst,MASS,USA -tce today, Richard Jansen -18 Jan 2012: -- Chemical engineers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, US, have developed a gallium-zeolite catalyst able to boost biomass-based petrochemical yields up to 40%...   Their process was tested using wood as a feedstock, and was shown to increase yields of five key petrochemicals: benzene, toluene, xylene, ethylene and propylene. George Huber, who led the research, says that the process “can be economically competitive with crude oil production" ...  The team used a process known as catalytic fast pyrolysis. The feedstock - which Huber says can be wood, agricultural waste or specially grown energy crops – is heated in a reactor until it pyrolyses, decomposing due to the heat, into a vapour. This is exposed to the newly-developed gallium-zeolite catalyst, and is converted into the petrochemical products desired...  According to Huber, the catalyst is relatively cheap to produce, and the entire process takes place in a single reactor. The team has already spun out the technology to a company, which it has called Anellotech, and is in the process of scaling it up to an industrial level...

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