Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Alex R Maag

Michael T Timko

Geoffrey A Tompsett

Catalyst composition and parameters for catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass to bio-oil fuels target municipal solid waste (MSW) rather than lignin rich plant waste typically sought for bio-oil production. An HTL (Hydrothermal Liquefaction) reactor generates bio-fuel from municipal solid waste (MSW), including receiving, in the HTL reactor, non-lignin based waste from a municipal processing stream, and adding a solvent for extracting sugars from green waste components of the municipal processing stream. The reactor extracts a liquid from the received waste, and converts water soluble products in the liquid into oil soluble products via C&#x2014;C (carbon-to-carbon) coupling reactions. A catalyst added to the resulting aqueous stream recovers a beneficial oil product, and is optimized by tuning acid and base sites on the solid catalyst.

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Ithaca, NY, United States of America

Alex R Maag