Sawdust (and Coal) to Liquid Fuel

 
 
We're intent on establishing and confirming that some botanical products, those high in cellulose, can be liquefied with coal to provide us with our needed liquid transportation fuels. Such co-liquefaction provides carbon dioxide offsets and helps to establish sustainability - until we refine and commercialize the techniques for direct capture and conversion into liquid fuels of Carbon Dioxide itself, which is also a demonstrated, though still emerging, technology. Our coal resources would be thus conserved to better serve us in their current roles, and in an evolving one as a source of raw materials for our plastics and chemicals manufacturing industries.
 
The excerpt:
 
"Liquefaction of sawdust for liquid fuel 

Yongjie Yan, Jie Xu, Tingchen Li and Zhengwei Ren

Energy Resource Chemical Engineering Department, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Mei Long Road, Shanghai, 200237 China 

Abstract

Pressurized liquefaction of sawdust was carried out in an autoclave in the presence of solvent under cold hydrogen pressure ranging from 2.0 to 5.5 MPa at the temperature range of 150C–450°C. The reaction time varied from 5 to 30 min. Investigations were made on the effects of temperature, reaction time, cold hydrogen pressure and solvent on the liquefaction process. Results indicate that liquefaction of sawdust can start at a temperature of 200°C, much lower than that for coal in a hydrogen-donor solvent, e.g., tetralin which was used in this run of experiment. Oil yield increase with the rise either in temperature and in cold hydrogen pressure or with the longer reaction time."

Please note the use of "tetralin" as a "hydrogen donor" solvent in this report. Tetralin appears as the primary hydrogen donor solvent we've documented to be employed by West Virginia University in their development of direct coal liquefaction technology. 

And, don't be misdirected in your thoughts concerning the use of "sawdust", which in itself might seem a very finite resource of limited production and availability. Think instead of it as, simply, cellulose: an abundant, renewable resource available from numerous botanical sources that can be purpose-grown, and grown with nourishment and stimulation directly supplied by the co-products of coal combustion and coal conversion, especially Carbon Dioxide. Cellulose-to-liquid and Coal-to-liquid are similar, complementary and synergistic, quite real, technologies.