Reaction Engineering of New Energy Technologies

While the first routes to producing biofuels involves variations on petroleum refining, the processes will ultimately be very different:  probably as different as the whaling industry was from petroleum refining.  Biomass is very different from crude oil in its composition and reactivity, and its geographic distribution and energy density require very different processing reactions and reactors.  The biorefinery will be much smaller and will produce a very different product spectrum. 

Consequently, we will have to rethink strategies for biomass processing.  This involves smaller systems, transient operation, lower pressures, reduced recycle, and combined production of heat, power, fuels, and chemicals.  Since feedstocks vary widely in composition and energy density, biorefining systems will have to be tightly controlled with all conditions preprogrammed.

We illustrate these differences with examples from catalytic partial oxidation of biomass surrogates in short contact time reactors.  Topics considered are novel reactor configurations, new catalysts, solids gasification, and management of inorganic impurities.