FACT SHEET – Second Gen Bio-Crude
Licella’s sustainable ‘drop-in’ bio-crude
Low cost waste, such as sawdust from plantation pine sawmilling, is suitable feedstock for
the commercial production of highly valuable
bio-crude oil.
Petrochemical refineries can blend Licella’s biocrude into the refining process by blending it
with petroleum crude oil and becoming petrol,
diesel, jet fuel or chemical feedstock.
Licella has developed a unique Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR), system for converting ‘lignocellulosic’ biomass into high value
synthetic crude oil ideally suited to the production of mainstream transport fuels.
Competitive advantages
The biomass is injected into the system as a
simple water slurry, which is pressurised, heated, and rapidly transformed by Cat-HTR into
refinery ‘drop-in’ ready bio-crude.
A wide range of biomass is suited to the process
including forestry and agricultural residues as
well as micro and macro algae.
How second generation biofuels
help the environment
Conventional second generation bio-crude
‘pyrolysis’ systems less efficiently remove oxygen from the bio-crude, requiring a costly
‘second-step’ to become refinery ‘drop-in’
ready.
Many are made from food crops, or at least
grown on land on which food could have been
produced.
The input feedstock slurry can be made from
waste water and a host of different biomass
types.
It can be produced at the biomass source, avoiding transport costs and has a low greenhouse
gas impact and is neither acidic nor alkaline (i.e.
pH neutral).
As Australia’s population and that of the world
grows, it is becoming increasingly important for
agricultural land to be used to produce food, not
crops for biofuels.
Second generation biofuels are produced from
sustainable feedstock—defined as such by its
availability, impact on greenhouse gas emissions
and impact on biodiversity and land use.
Cat-HTR bio-crude is a breakthrough in that
inedible, very low value biomass waste or plantation forest fibres can now be used on a sustainable and fully renewable basis to produce a
full range of conventional liquid fuels.
Licella’s world first
Licella has developed the world’s first one-step
process for producing an advanced and highly
stable bio-crude oil.
What’s different is reduced CO2 emissions and
security of supply. Despite experiencing huge
volumes of through-put, petroleum crude is
becoming increasingly costly due to extraction
and geo-political constraints. Our product is
renewable.
Licella’s Cat-HTR technology clears the way for
Licella’s Cat-HTR produced sustainable bio-crude establishment of sustainable bio-crude production plants near bio-mass sources around the
is ideally suited to producing a full range of
world.
transport fuels including petrol, diesel and jet
fuel.
Licella Bio-crude has a very high energy density
of 34 to 36 MJ/Kg. Ethanol has energy density
Biomass is produced through plants’ use of CO2
of 28 to 29 MJ/Kg and pyrolysis oils have energy
and other nutrients for growth. Use of biocrude-derived transport fuel in place of identical density of between 16 and 19 MJ/Kg.
Additionally, the product has similar ‘fractions’
fossil-crude based products therefore reduces
to petroleum crude, it’s stable and can easily be
net atmospheric CO2 emissions.
transported, and it’s ‘miscible’ which means it
First generation biofuels refer to the fuels that
have been derived from sources such as starch, can be blended.
sugar, animal fats and vegetable oil.
Once ‘dropped in’ to an oil refinery production
supply, an oil refiner can no longer differentiate
between fuel products derived from crude oil
and those derived from bio-crude—it’s all the
same.
At the fuel refinery
What’s needed is a first
large-scale project to get the
ball rolling.
Licella anticipates its first commercial
scale plant will generate production volumes of around 500,000 barrels of bio-crude
oil per annum.
Licella’s bio-crude oil is an advanced product
that can easily be accommodated in the conven- The company hopes to commence construction in
tional refining process.
late 2015.
FACT SHEET – Production process
Rapid transformation from sawdust into bio-crude
The following points represent a simplified
overview of Licella’s single-step bio-crude production process.

Feedstock Slurry The waste bio-mass is
injected as a water slurry.

Feedstock Pressurisation The feedstock is
pressurised to assist sustained chemical
reaction.

Feedstock Super Heating Using recovered
energy feedstock is pre-heated and then
super heated, whilst still under pressure.

Catalytic Reactor Phase Feedstock, now at
change-critical reaction pressure and temperature passes through the Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) where it is
transformed.

Product Depressurisation Heat energy is
quickly recovered as the product is brought
back to normal pressure and temperature.

Oil Recovery Now an emulsion of oil, water and organic compounds, key products
are separated. Bio-crude oil is recovered.

Water Recycling Waste water is filtered
and organic compounds removed for sale
as fertiliser feedstock.

Bio-crude Shipment Bio-crude undergoes
further water removal and is shipped to a
refinery.

Oil Refinery The bio-crude is ‘dropped in’
at an advanced stage of refining and used
to produce petrol, diesel, jet fuel and other
petro-chemical equivalent products.
PROPERTY
Energy Content—Gross Calorific value
(dry basis) Mega joules per kg
Oxygen Content (Mass %—dry basis)
Carbon Content (Mass %—dry basis)
Hydrogen Content (Mass %—dry basis)
Nitrogen Content (Mass %—dry basis)
Sulphur Content (Mass %—dry basis)
Water Solubility
Water Content (before drying)
pH (of water)
Chloride salt content of oil % (dissolved
in water before drying / desalting)
Slurry
Preparation
PETROLEUM
CRUDE
TYPICAL
PYROLYSIS OIL
34-36 MJ/kg
44
16-19
8-14%
80-82%
6-8%
0-0.2%
0.01-0.03%
Insoluble
4-6%
(6-8.5)
Up to 1.5%
83-87%
10-14%
0.1-2%
0.05-6%
Insoluble
Up to 1%
-
35-40%
54-58%
5.5-7%
0-0.2%
0.01%
Soluble
15-30%
2.5
<0.001
0.01-0.05
Unknown
SINGLE-STEP HIGH ENERGY
In a single step, Licella produces a high
density bio-crude which can be upgraded
(hydro-processed) to remove its remaining oxygen alongside traditional crude oil
in existing refineries.
Additionally, the product is ideally suited
to making a full range of fuels such as
petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
Most bio-fuel competitors can only
produce one fuel type—i.e. Ethanol.
With Licella bio-crude oil there are no
compromises—but plenty of competitive
advantages.
Pyrolysis
Unlike petroleum crude, Licella’s bio-crude
is made from taking CO2 directly out of the
atmosphere—thereby helping reduce net
atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions.
Licella’s bio-crude has properties that are similar and in
some respects superior (lower sulphur and soluble chloride)
to petroleum crude. It is far superior to and has none of the
issues of pyrolysis oil (low energy, unstable, corrosive).
Processed
Woodchips
LICELLA
BIO-CRUDE
Licella bio-crude is refinery
drop-in ready.
Pressure
Letdown and
Flash Steam
Recovery
Reactor
Vessels
Oil
Separation
Slurry
Storage
Heat Recovery
Exchanger
Oil Polishing
High Pressure
Slurry Pump
Slurry
Pre-Heater
www.mbdenergy.com
Oil Storage
Fluid Bed
Slurry Heater
Oil to Refinery
© MBD Energy Limited 2011