The article summarized the possible transformations of pyrolysis bio-oil from lignocellulose into 2nd generation biofuels. Although a lot has been published about this topic, so far, none of the published catalytic pro-cesses has found commercial application due to the rapid deactivation of the catalyst. Most researches deal with bio-oil hydrotreatment at severe conditions or its pro-cessing by catalytic cracking to prepare 2nd generation biofuels directly. However, this approach is not commercially applicable due to high consumptions of hydrogen and fast catalyst deactivation. Another way, crude bio-oil co-processing with petroleum fractions in hydrotreatment or FCC units seems to be more promising. The last approach, bio-oil mild hydrotreatment followed by final co-processing with petroleum feedstock using common refining processes (FCC and hydrotreatment) seems to be the most promising way to produce 2nd generation biofuels from pyrolysis bio-oil. Co-processing of bio-oil with petroleum fraction in FCC increases conversion to gasoline and, thus, it could be a preferable process in the USA. Otherwise, co-hydrotreatment of hydrotreated bio-oil with LCO leads not only to the reduction of hydrogen consumption but also to the conversion preferably to diesel. This process seems to be more suitable for Europe. Further research on bio-oils upgrading is still necessary before the commercialization of the bio-oil conversion into biofuels suitable for cars. However, the first commercial bio-refinery that will convert bio-oil into biofuel for marine transport is planned to be built in the Netherlands.
Bio-oil transformation into 2nd generation biofuels