Conversion of Biomass to Liquid Fuels: Energy for the Future

The rising exhaust emission standards & the increasing demand for cleaner and cheaper energy services prompt oil companies to develop technologies such as the so-called gas-to-liquid (GTL) technology, using natural gas, which showed great potential. In parallel to the GTL Technology there is strong research & development of the so called biomass-to liquid (BTL) production process. This process is envisioned to be more CO2 neutral than using fossil fuels because the primary energy source is renewable plant matter. In the first process step of BTL, the biomass is broken down into a gaseous constituent & a solid constituent (organic semicoke) by low temperature gasifcation. The second process step involves producing the synthetic gas. The synthetic gas is then converted to fuel in a Fischer Tropsch Synthesis process with downstream fuel optimization by H2 after treatment. So, here the major emphasis has been given on Fischer Tropsch synthesis process for producing liquid fuels from Biomass.