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Long Thanh Duong

Improving the quality of bio-oil from biomass waste using fast hydropyrolisis.

Email: t.l.duong2@ncl.ac.uk

Project title

Upgrading bio-oil using fast hydropyrolisis

Supervisor

Project description

Fast pyrolysis is a potential technology for converting biomass waste into biofuels. The yield of liquid product (bio-oil) can be up to 75%. But bio-oil is unstable. It contains more than 200 oxygenated compounds and a large proportion of water, up to 40%. This leads to the limitation of application in the energy and transportation industries.

The project will investigate upgrading bio-oil. It will do this by reducing oxygen content and increasing fuel precursor products. Catalytic pyrolysis is a good process for deoxygenation process. It can take advantage of the high temperature of vapour streams for catalytic reactions.

Non-thermal plasma combined with a catalyst has promise for removing oxygen in oxygenates. This technique can take place at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Also, an alternative reaction pathway with a lower energy barrier occurs in a plasma-assisted catalysis reactor.

Fast hydropyrolysis is the integration of the hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process with fast pyrolysis technology. It produces bio-oil with low oxygen content. Researchers have focused on this combination in recent years.

My research will explore integrating catalyst and non-thermal plasma technology into a fast hydropyrolysis system. This will improve the quality of bio-oil from biomass waste. Biomass waste is a residue from the agricultural sector and is usually disposed of into landfill.

Publications

Interests

Sports such as badminton and football.

Qualifications

  • Master of Chemical Engineering – Petrochemical Engineering
  • Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Honour Program) – Petroleum Processing Technology
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