Research to investigate impact of biofuel processes
23 Aug 2012
Aston University Bioenergy Research Group (BERG) has been awarded £424,000 of research funds, as part of the new SUPERGEN Bioenergy hub.
It plans to use the money to investigate the efficiency and whole-life impact of a variety of biofuel processes and accelerate the deployment of sustainable bioenergy.
Professor Tony Bridgwater of Aston University will be leading two of the ten research projects looking at upgrading bio-oil and the techno-economic impact of biofuels by pyrolysis.
Turning biomass into transport fuels is a significant research challenge as substantial processing and upgrading are required to meet biofuel specifications.
One way of stepping towards that objective is to produce bio-oil by fast pyrolysis and upgrade that only to the minimum extent required to allow it to be mixed with mineral oil in a conventional refinery.
New approaches to this will be evaluated experimentally to establish the feasibility and potential greenhouse gas reductions.
There are also different pathways from woody biomass to biofuels, some of which are only just emerging and it makes sense to focus research effort on the more efficient and lowest cost processes.
Whole systems analysis of novel biofuel technologies will be carried out to screen for the most promising technology options.
The hub starts work in August for a five-year period and will be directed by Dr Patricia Thornley at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, University of Manchester.
The research consortium is funded by a £3.5m grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) as part of the RCUK Energy Programme.
