Co-processing biomass intermediates at existing petroleum refineries offers a cost-effective pathway to achieving U.S. volume production goals for biofuels at minimum capital burden and fostering the bioeconomy. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) facilitates the conversion of biomass, particularly wet waste, into biocrude, a liquid intermediate that can be upgraded via hydroprocessing analogous to those employed in conventional petroleum refining. However, industry has expressed reservations regarding refinery integration, citing challenges associated with the compositional heterogeneity of biocrude relative to petroleum intermediates, the variability of biocrude derived from diverse biomass feedstock, the identification of Critical Material Attributes (CMA) impacting existing operation, and the need for pretreatment to minimize operational impacts and maximize benefits for both bio- and petroleum refineries. This presentation details a thorough opportunity assessment of co-processing HTL biocrude with vacuum gas oil in a refinery hydrocracker, grounded in experimentally derived biocrude composition, CMAs, and co-processing data. This assessment encompasses: (1) kinetic-based reactor modeling in Aspen Plus and HYSYS to determine impacts of biocrude components on hydrocracker operation and optimize co-processing conditions; (2) techno-economic and life-cycle analyses to quantify economic and environmental benefits; and (3) a full-refinery linear programming model in Aspen PIMS to assess the broader refinery-wide effects, including biocrude integration point, upstream and downstream processes, refinery gross margin, and the break-even value of biocrude for the refinery.
