Catalytic Conversion of Biomass-Derived Ethanol to Liquid Hydrocarbon Blendstock: Effect of Light Gas Recirculation

Catalytic Conversion of Biomass-Derived Ethanol to Liquid Hydrocarbon Blendstock: Effect of Light Gas Recirculation

We describe a light gas recirculation (LGR) method to increase the liquid hydrocarbon yield with a reduced aromatic content from catalytic conversion of ethanol to hydrocarbons. The previous liquid hydrocarbon yield is ∼40% from one-pass ethanol conversion over the V-ZSM-5 catalyst at 350 °C and atmospheric pressure, where the remaining ∼60% yield is light gas hydrocarbons. In comparison, the liquid hydrocarbon yield increases to 80% when a simulated light gas hydrocarbon stream is co-fed at a rate of 0.053 mol g–1 h–1 with ethanol as a result of the conversion of most of the light olefins.

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