Biokerosene production from bio-chemical and thermo-chemical biomass conversion and subsequent fischer-tropsch synthesis

Abstract

Synthetic fuels derived from synthesis gas provided from gasification of solid fuels using the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis are well-known and used since the 1920's. The initial process used coal as feedstock to produce mainly diesel like fuels when crude oil was not at hand. Nowadays and especially in the context of alternative and climate friendly fuels new process chains are taken into consideration based on this overall principle. This includes the production of "green" syngas by biomass gasification or reforming of bio-methane from e.g. biogas plants based on a biochemical biomass conversion. Against this background the overall goal of this paper is to give an overview of the current state of these two syngas provision pathways and the subsequent synthesis options, mainly focusing on the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis. The overall process chains can be categorized into the Biomass-to-Liquids (BtL) and the Biogas-to-Liquids (Bio-GtL) pathways.