There is increased interest in the production and use of pyrolysis oils (or bio-oil) as a means of converting solid biomass into liquid fuels. While pyrolysis oil is not suitable for direct use as a transportation fuel, it can be used in external combustion devices such as boilers, heaters, and turbines. There are also activities underway to refine pyrolysis oil to gasoline and diesel fuel components.
The scope of this work included;
- Pyrolysis oil production from wood or agricultural cellulosic feedstocks. Both of these feedstock families were already included in GHGenius. There are three wood options: wood waste, short rotation forestry, and harvested wood from natural forests. There are four agricultural cellulosic feedstocks in the model: wheat straw, corn stover, switchgrass, and hay. The model has been expanded so that pyrolysis oil can be made from any of these feedstocks. The emissions from the production of these bio-oils have been added to the Upstream Results sheet.
- The produced pyrolysis oil could be used in external combustion devices such as heaters and boilers (sheet AD and sheet N). Sheet J has also been expanded so that the emissions from the production of electricity in a turbine system can be modelled.
- A pathway that refines the pyrolysis oils to blending stock for gasoline and diesel fuel has also been added to the model.
All of the existing functionality, e.g. sensitivity solver, Monte Carlo tool, etc, in GHGenius has been maintained. The version of GHGenius that accompanies this report is GHGenius version 3.20.
