Conversion of biomass or residual waste materials to biofuels

Abstract

The present invention provides a process for producing liquid hydrocarbon products from solid biomass and/or residual waste feedstocks, said process comprising the steps of: a) a first stage of hydropyrolysing the solid feedstock in a hydropyrolysis reactor vessel in the presence of molecular hydrogen and one or more deoxygenation catalysts, producing a product stream comprising partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product, HO, H, CO, CO, C-Cgases, char and catalyst fines; b) removing said char and catalyst fines from said product stream; c) a second stage of hydroconverting said partially deoxygenated hydropyrolysis product in a hydroconversion reactor vessel in the presence of one or more hydroconversion catalysts and of the HO, CO, CO, H, and C-Cgas generated in step a), producing a vapour phase product comprising substantially fully deoxygenated hydrocarbon product, HO, CO, CO, and C-Cgases; d) condensing the vapour phase product of step d) to provide a liquid phase product comprising substantially fully deoxygenated C4+ hydrocarbon liquid and aqueous material and separating said liquid phase product from a gas phase product comprising H, CO, CO, and C-Cgases; e) removing the aqueous material from the substantially fully deoxygenated C4+ hydrocarbon liquid; and f) a third stage comprising combining an aliphatic hydrocarbon precursor or an aromatic hydrocarbon precursor with at least a portion of the substantially fully deoxygenated C4+ hydrocarbon liquid and co-processing the resultant liquid in a hydroprocessing reactor vessel in the presence of hydrogen and one or more hydroprocessing catalysts.