Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), for cost and energy efficient treatment of wet biobased residual streams, from forest industry or agriculture, to useful bio products.
HTL (hydrothermal liquefaction) is a hydrothermal process that transforms wet biomass, with high pressure and temperature, to mainly liquid. Oil is the main product from HTL, but small amounts of gas and solid phase (carbon) are also formed.
With HTL biomasses such as sawdust, bark and sludges are converted into a liquid oil that in many respects resembles fossil crude oil. The desired properties can be obtained by adjusting process parameters (catalyst, pressure, temperature and time). Biomass with high moisture content is not cost efficient to process by conventional technologies. HTL however can tolerate huge amounts of water thus it eliminates the costly dewatering step. Since a majority of residual materials from forests and agriculture are possible to use for HTL, a large raw material base is provided, both on regional, national and international level. Techno-economic analysis indicates economic potential for cases where bio sludge and fiber sludge from pulp mills are converted to bio oil, and then used as energy source in the mills, replacing fossil fuels. Also, integrating pulp mills and HPP (High Pressure Processing) has shown possible synergies when fuel handling and disposal of process water can be coordinated.
Production of fuel oil or propellant from these bio based side streams enables new business models that broaden the economic efficiency of biorefineries. RISE Processum has a state-of-the-art HTL pilot facility from batch mode to continuous mode which has capacity to produce 1 kg oil/day. Work is underway to increase the capacity.
So far bio oil have been produced from mainly different types of forest industrial waste sludges but the basic technique is the same for any biomass.
MAINSTREAMing small-scale BIO-based solutions across rural Europe via regional Multi-actor Innovation Platforms and tailored innovation support
Completed | 2022-2025
- Main funding source
- Horizon Europe (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
- Geographical location
- Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Greece, Belgium