Pretreatment of fats and oils in the production of biofuels

Abstract

Methods are disclosed for the treatment of feedstocks comprising a fatty acid- or triglyceride-containing component to remove contaminants that are detrimental to the conversion of such feedstocks to hydrocarbons, and especially biofuel fractions such as diesel or aviation biofuels. Contaminants contributing to the presence of trace elements in animal fats and / or plant oils, as components of feedstocks, hinder the ability to catalytically convert these feedstocks, for example by hydroprocessing, to biofuels.

Description

STATEMENT OF PRIORITY[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 61 / 428,640 which was filed on Dec. 30, 2010, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]Aspects of the invention relate to the pretreatment of feedstocks comprising a fatty acid- or triglyceride-containing component (e.g., an animal fats or a plant oil) to remove contaminants such as phosphorous that are detrimental to hydroprocessing operations used to convert such feedstocks to hydrocarbon-containing biofuels (e.g., a diesel biofuel or an aviation biofuel).DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART[0003]Environmental concerns over fossil fuel greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions have led to an increasing emphasis on renewable energy sources. The production of biofuels is expanding at a rapid pace worldwide as a result of commitments to GHG reduction, including the climate agreement at Kyoto and associated European Union directives. Increasing petrol...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]The present invention is associated with the discovery of important benefits that result from the treatment of feedstocks comprising a fatty acid- or triglyceride-containing component, in order to remove contaminants that have been found to be detrimental in the conversion of such feedstocks to hydrocarbons, and especially biofuel fractions such as diesel or aviation biofuels. Without being bound by theory, contaminants contributing to the presence of trace elements in animal fats and / or plant oils, as components of feedstocks, hinder the ability to catalytically convert these feedstocks to hydrocarbons using hydroprocessing. For example, certain elements and compounds containing these elements (e.g., phosphorous and phosphorous-containing compounds) poison or reduce the activity of hydroprocessing catalysts, thereby shortening their useful life and consequently increasing the overall cost of biofuel production. Treating methods to reduce certain contaminants of the fatty acid- or triglyceride-containing component (and therefore contaminants of the feedstock), to the greatest extent possible, therefore provide important commercial advantages.

[0010]Further embodiments of the present invention are directed to hydroprocessed biofuels made according to these methods (e.g., using fractionation to recover the biofuel from a hydroprocessed product), in addition to biofuel compositions made by blending the hydroprocessed biofuel with a petroleum-derived fuel (e.g., present in the composition in an amount from about 1% to about 99% by weight). The biofuels, and fuel compositions comprising these biofuels, advantageously exhibit greatly reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, compared to their petroleum-derived counterparts, based on a lifecycle assessment (LCA) up to and including the ultimate combustion of the fuel composition by the end user. For vegetable oils and animal fats, the GHG emissions associated with obtaining these feedstock components are in many cases considered negligible, as these biofuel sources are otherwise normally waste products of foods already produced for human and animal consumption. The biofuels and biofuel compositions have suitable characteristics, in terms of overall makeup (e.g., relatively large, minimally required, amounts of hydrocarbons within a particular boiling range) and in terms of quality (e.g., relatively small, maximally allowed, amounts of thermally unstable compounds such as oxygenates) for use as a fuel composition or a fuel composition blending component.

Problems solved by technology

Without being bound by theory, contaminants contributing to the presence of trace elements in animal fats and / or plant oils, as components of feedstocks, hinder the ability to catalytically convert these feedstocks to hydrocarbons using hydroprocessing.

For example, certain elements and compounds containing these elements (e.g., phosphorous and phosphorous-containing compounds) poison or reduce the activity of hydroprocessing catalysts, thereby shortening their useful life and consequently increasing the overall cost of biofuel production.

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