Process for converting a biomass material

Abstract

A process for converting a biomass material comprising a) pyrolyzing a biomass material to produce a biomass-derived pyrolysis product; b) mixing at least part of the biomass-derived pyrolysis product and a petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition, which petroleum derived hydrocarbon composition has a C7-asphaltenes content of equal to or more than 0.2 wt %, based on the total weight of the petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition, to produce a hydrocarbon-containing mixture; c) dewatering the hydrocarbon-containing mixture to produce a dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture; d) contacting the dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture with hydrogen in one or more ebullating bed reactors comprising a catalyst at a temperature in the range from 350 to 500° C. to produce a reaction product.

1 . A process for converting a biomass material comprising
 a) pyrolyzing a biomass material to produce a biomass-derived pyrolysis product;   b) mixing at least part of the biomass-derived pyrolysis product and a petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition, which petroleum derived hydrocarbon composition has a C7-asphaltenes content of equal to or more than 0.2 wt %, based on the total weight of the petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition, to produce a hydrocarbon-containing mixture;   c) dewatering the hydrocarbon-containing mixture to produce a dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture; and   d) contacting the dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture with hydrogen in one or more ebullating bed reactors comprising a catalyst at a temperature in the range from 350 to 500° C. to produce a reaction product.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the biomass material is lignocellulosic material. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein the lignocellulosic material is washed, steam exploded, dried, roasted, torrefied and/or reduced in particle size before being pyrolyzed in step a). 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 2 , wherein step a) further comprises the removal of minerals from the biomass material before pyrolyzing and/or the removal of minerals from the biomass-derived pyrolysis product or part thereof after pyrolyzing. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein step a) is carried out in a pyrolysis reactor wherein the biomass material is conveyed by means of a screw. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein in step a) a biomass-derived pyrolysis oil is separated from the biomass-derived pyrolysis product and wherein this biomass-derived pyrolysis oil is mixed with the petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition in step b). 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition in step b) comprises a vacuum gas oil (VGO), a heavy coker gas oil, an atmospheric residue (“long residue”), a vacuum residue (“short residue”) and/or mixtures thereof. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the biomass-derived pyrolysis product or part thereof and the petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition are mixed in step b) in a weight ratio of pyrolysis product to petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition in the range from 10:90 to 20:80. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein in step c) the hydrocarbon-containing mixture is dewatered by means of evaporation. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 8 , wherein such evaporation is carried out by flashing. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the catalyst in step d) comprises a metal chosen from the group consisting of Molybdenum, Nickel, Copper, Tungsten, Cobalt, Palladium, Platinum, Ruthenium. 
     
     
         11 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the catalyst in step d) comprises a heterogeneous catalyst and/or a dispersed catalyst. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein step d) comprises supplying a feed comprising the dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture together with one or more co-feeds to the one or more ebullating bed reactors and/or contacting the dewatered hydrocarbon-containing mixture with the catalyst in the presence of such one or more co-feeds. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 12 , wherein the co-feed comprises petroleum-derived hydrocarbon composition and/or a lignocellulosic material and/or a cellulosic material. 
     
     
         14 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein instead of or in addition to one or more ebullating bed reactors also one or more moving bed reactors and/or one or more slurry reactors are used. 
     
     
         15 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the reaction product in step d) comprises one or more cracked products. 
     
     
         16 . The process of  claim 1 , wherein the reaction product obtained in step d) is subsequently fractionated to produce one or more product fractions. 
     
     
         17 . The process of  claim 16 , wherein the one or more product fractions are blended with one or more additional components to produce a biofuel and/or biochemical, optionally after being hydrotreated and/or hydroisomerized.