ConocoPhillips’ Interest in Pyrolysis

[4dsc]

I know I've heard of this before but cannot quite put my hands on it..

http://blogs.dmregister.com/?cat=93

This week’s announcement by ConocoPhillips of a $22.5 M contract with Iowa State is significicant not only because of the magnitude of the grant, but also because of the company’s statement that it is interested in pursuing pyrolysis as a biomass conversion technology. To date, most of the action and attention in the biofuel world has been focused on the enzymatic breakdown of cellulosics to sugars that are then fermented into alcohol. Although much progress has been made over the years, the “sugar platform” remains costly and still has some technical barriers to overcome before it will become economically feasible. Pyrolysis offers another alternative that has several advantages.

Pyrolysis is a ”thermochemical” process by which elevated temperature and pressure in the absence of air convert biomass into a liquid “bio-oil,” a substance that has very similar propterties to petroleum. One clear advantage of pyrolysis is that the process is relatively insensitive to chemical composition (particularly the lignin content) of the feedstock. My colleague, Robert Brown, likens pyrolysis to hitting the biomass with a hammer. This is in contrast to the enzymatic approach, which is a delicate process that requires carefully controled conditions and which is very sensitive to the chemical composition of the feedstock. Virtually any material containing carbon can be used as a pyrolysis feedstock, and whereas lignin is a problem in converting cellulosics to ethanol, it actually is beneficial in pyrolysis because it is converted to the oil along with the cellulose.

[GliderGuider]

1. Thermal Depolymerization

Read a jaundiced view of it here on TOD:

Like cellulosic ethanol, TDP is a technology that actually works. But the technology was hyped beyond reason. People did not apply enough skepticism before embracing the promise of the technology. It was really going to be "the next big thing."

But costs and complications were grossly underestimated. They fell victim to The Law of Receding Horizons. They learned that the public doesn't like smelly plants in their community. Discover ran an updated article in 2006 in which Appel admitted "We have made mistakes. We were too aggressive in our earlier projections." The hype just ultimately did not match the reality. And while TDP may make some small contribution to our energy needs, it isn't going to make any measurable dent in our fossil fuel usage.

But at least we have cellulosic ethanol, which I have heard really is "the next big thing."

[DCKit]

2. Sheeeeit, they could run them plants on junk-mail and liposuction fat alone. n/t

[skids]

3. There are actually various kinds, TDP is only one.

TDP is a pyrolysis technique that goes a more or less straight route from feedstock to oils.

There are other, older pyrolysis methods that break the feedstock down more. I think the most extreme might be breaking it into synthesis gas and then recombining it into methanol and acetone. It requires careful energy budget management to make sure all the heat and chemicals and byproducts are re-injected into the system at the right points to reduce the overhead -- e.g. you take your less commercially salable co-products and burn them off to provide heat for the processes that make more valuable products.

The principles used in pyrolysis are in the engineering skill set of oil and gas companies, which is why they might find it attractive (along with heat/steam engine based solar thermal) -- they see themselves as having an advantage in that area with all the engineers they have on staff that are used to dealing with big complex networks of valves and pipes all carrying pressurized and heated chemicals.

[NickB79]

4. TDP is a way to recycle oil, not create it

That seems to be the problem most people can't wrap their minds around. Yes, you can obtain oil out of that mountain of garbage, or that pile of turkey guts. But, for every barrel of oil you get out of your TDP plant, someone else used a couple barrels to manufacture the goods that eventually became that garbage, or to grow the feed that was fed to those turkeys to become guts.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't use TDP though. I think we should be building TDP plants as fast as humanly possible, but I don't see them as a solution to our growing energy crisis. They add a few extra feathers to our arms as we frantically flap them during the freefall. The trick is adding enough feathers before we hit the ground so that we only break bones instead of splatter on the pavement.