Development of Applicable Technology Pathways for Co-refining Pyrolysis Oils and Fossil Fuel Intermediates.

An ACAN is a public notice indicating to the supplier community that a department or agency intends to award a contract for goods, services or construction to a pre-identified supplier, thereby allowing other suppliers to signal their interest in bidding, by submitting a statement of capabilities. If no supplier submits a statement of capabilities that meets the requirements set out in the ACAN, on or before the closing date stated in the ACAN, the contracting officer may then proceed with the award to the pre-identified supplier.

The Department of Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has a requirement to provide technical service to clearly determine (1) the aggressive agents (including inorganic corrodants and organic acids) in crude bio-oil feedstocks produced from different raw agriculture and forest biomass via thermochemical conversion pathways; and (2) the amounts of major toxic compounds (such as H2S) very likely generated during the co-refining processes of crude bio-oils and fossil fuel intermediates (such as vacuum gas oil). This service shall help an NRCan research group on the development and deployment of new innovative co-refining technology for advancing the application of clean and renewable bioenergy products at Canadian energy sector. As the co-refining technology is still under the state of a newly introduced concept, it urgently needs to be well understood from the crude bio-oils storage to the duel feeds mixing to the co-processing before the technology can be widely accepted and implemented by the industry.

Thus, the work will involve at least the following: (1) conducting comprehensive literature review on the technologies which are being developed by different research groups for co-processing bio-oils with petroleum intermediate feedstocks and significant knowledge gaps; (2) determining the toxicity and corrosivity of crude bio-oils during storage and transportation; (3) developing innovative reliable solutions to mitigate the aging and instability problems occurred during the storage and transportation of crude bio-oils; (4) developing new cost-effective solutions to solve the immiscibility problem between the bio-oils and fossil fuel feedstocks; and (5) identifying the toxicity and corrosivity of the blends of crude bio-oils and fossil fuel feedstocks under simulated co-refining conditions at refining plants.

The potential supplier must have (1) sufficient industry experience of various operations to understand the industrial needs, (2) in-depth knowledge of chemical processes as well as testing and analytical facilities to accurately identify the chemistry and toxicity, and (3) corrosion background to design suitable testing matrix to better support our project delivery.