Adriana Estrada Leon
Hydropyrolysis of biomass residues in molten salts
This research investigates hydropyrolysis of residual waste streams in molten salts as a potential route for biofuels production. The residual feedstock used is mainly Lignoboost Kraft lignin and lignocellulosic biomass such as wheat straw and pinewood. The goal is to study the product distribution and yields from hydropyrolysis under different process conditions (temperature, pressure, biomass to salts ratio). This research forms part of the H2020 project: Advanced Biomass Catalytic Conversion to Middle Distillates in Molten Salts (ABC-Salt).
The Advanced Biomass Catalytic Conversion to Middle Distillates in Molten Salts (ABC-Salt) is a four-year project founded by the EU Horizon 2020 framework (764089) to demonstrate a novel route to produce sustainable liquid biofuels at laboratory scale from various lignocellulosic waste streams. This project aims to bring the technology to convert biomass residues into middle distillate from today's TRL 2 to TRL 4.
The technical core is composed of three elements:
- Liquefaction of various lignocellulosic biomasses in molten salts;
- Hydro-pyrolysis of the dissolved biomass;
- Catalytic hydro-deoxygenation of the vapors.