Co-processing of Algae Hydrothermal Liquidation of Oil with VGO via Fluid Catalytic Cracking: Process Simulation and Optimization

Abstract

Biofuels are expected to play a vital role in decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and facilitating the progressive transition from fossil fuels, resulting in low-carbon, high-sustainability fuels. The inclusion of biofuel sources into conventional petroleum refineries is gaining interest due to the increased crude oil prices, environmental concerns, and the necessity to maintain an energy supply. Processing alternative feedstocks would not necessitate substantial capital investments because refineries already have a well-established infrastructure for creating fuels and basic chemicals. There are several technological obstacles when converting bio-oil to transportation fuel on a large scale. The sensitivity analysis was used to confirm the improved simulation result, then compared to an experimental result from the literature. The effect of reactor temperature on feed conversion and product yield, mainly naphtha, light cycle oil (LCO), and fuel gas, was investigated. Furthermore, the effectiveness of various algae-hydrothermal liquefaction (AHTLO) mix ratios with VGO, ranging from 5, 10, and 15 wt%, was investigated. Moreover, a study was conducted on optimizing riser output temperatures and feed mass ratios to maximize the total naphtha and LCO or naphtha and LPG output and increase the production capacity. It was found that as the ratio of AHTLO increased, the conversion of all products and fuel gas yield decreased while the LCO increased. However, there was no discernible variation in the ratio of Naphtha.