Process for producing hydrocarbons

Abstract

A process for converting biomass to products is described. Biomasss is contacted with hydrogen in the presence of a fluidized bed of hydropyrolysis catalyst in a reactor vessel under hydropyrolysis conditions; and products and char are removed from the reactor vessel. The products leave the fluidized bed at an exit bed velocity, the char has a settling velocity that is less than the exit bed velocity and hydropyrolysis catalyst has a settling velocity that is greater than the exit bed velocity.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A process for converting biomass to products comprising:
 a. contacting the biomass with hydrogen in the presence of a fluidized bed of hydropyrolysis catalyst in a reactor vessel under hydropyrolysis conditions; and   b. removing products and char from the reactor vessel   wherein the products leave the fluidized bed at an exit bed velocity, the char has a settling velocity that is less than the exit bed velocity and hydropyrolysis catalyst has a settling velocity that is greater than the exit bed velocity.   
     
     
         2 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the settling velocity of the char is less than 90% of the exit bed velocity. 
     
     
         3 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the settling velocity of the char is less than 75% of the exit bed velocity. 
     
     
         4 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the settling velocity of the hydropyrolysis catalyst is greater than 110% of the exit bed velocity. 
     
     
         5 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the settling velocity of the hydropyrolysis catalyst is greater than 150% of the exit bed velocity. 
     
     
         6 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the hydropyrolysis conditions comprise a temperature in the range of from 270° C. to 450° C. and a pressure in the range of from 1 MPa to 7.5 MPa. 
     
     
         7 . The process of  claim 1  wherein the biomass is selected from the group consisting of lignin, wood, algae, paper, and cardboard. 
     
     
         8 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising passing the products through a cyclone to remove the char and then passing the products through a porous filter to remove hydropyrolysis catalyst. 
     
     
         9 . The process of  claim 1  further comprising separating the products to remove the carbon monoxide and light hydrocarbons from the remainder of the products. 
     
     
         10 . The process of  claim 8  further comprising passing the remainder of the products to a hydroconversion reactor wherein the remainder of the products are contacted with a hydroconversion catalyst under suitable hydroconversion conditions to produce a condensable liquid hydrocarbon product that has less than 1% oxygen. 
     
     
         11 . A hydropyrolysis process wherein the bulk density of the catalyst in the fluidized bed is significantly higher than the bulk density of the char. 
     
     
         12 . The process of  claim 10  wherein the bulk density of the char is in the range of from 0.3-0.6 g/cc. 
     
     
         13 . The process of  claim 10  wherein the bulk density of the catalyst is in the range of from 0.8-1.5 g/cc.