Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140148609 | THERMAL TREATMENT OF CRUDE ALGAE OIL - Crude algae oils are thermally-treated at temperature(s) in the range of 300-600° C., without catalyst and/or the addition of hydrogen, to produce a higher grade, cleaner algae oil with, for example, reduced oxygen, boiling range, viscosity and/or density, and acid number, in addition, because the thermal treatment reduces metals in the oil and produces carbonaceous solids, it is expected that catalyst deactivation by algae oil feedstocks will be greatly reduced if the crude algae oil or fractions thereof are thermally-treated prior to catalytic upgrading. Oxygen, fatty acids, metals, and metalloids are reduced/removed by the thermal treatment, so that RBI) processing of the crude bio-oil may be reduced or eliminated, and requirements for further deoxygenation and hydrotreating of the thermal products are reduced or eliminated. | 05-29-2014 |
20140249338 | COMPOSITIONS OF MATTER COMPRISING EXTRACTED ALGAE OIL - Crude algae oils produced by practical extraction techniques comprise a wide range of molecular species that can be characterized by advanced analytical techniques. The algae oils comprise a complex mixture of a large number of molecules having varying sizes and therefore varying boiling points, and comprise high nitrogen, oxygen, and fatty acid content, but low sulfur, saturated hydrocarbons, and triglyceride content. Hydrogen/carbon molar ratios are typically greater than 1.6. The wide range of molecular species in the crude algae oils, while unusual compared to conventional refinery feed stocks and vegetable oils, may be upgraded into fuels by conventional refining approaches such as hydrotreating and thermal treatment. Unusual behavior of the algae oils in thermal processing and/or hydrotreatment may provide a high quality product slate, with the flexibility to adjust the product slate due to enhanced cracking behavior exhibited by these algae oils. | 09-04-2014 |
20140256999 | PROCESSES FOR UPGRADING ALGAE OILS AND PRODUCTS THEREOF - Algae oil feeds comprise a wide range of molecular species forming a complex mixture of molecules having varying sizes and therefore varying boiling points, comprise high nitrogen, oxygen, and fatty acid content, but comprise low sulfur, saturated hydrocarbons, and triglycerides. The wide range of molecular species in the algae oil feeds, very unusual compared to conventional refinery feedstocks and vegetable oils, may be upgraded into fuels by conventional refining approaches such as thermal and/or catalytic-hydroprocessing. Hydrotreating at high pressure over large-pore catalyst, and optionally followed by FCC cracking, has shown a beneficial product slate including coke yield. Thermal treatment prior to hydrotreating may improve hydrotreating feedstock quality. Unusual behavior of the algae oils in thermal treatment and/or hydroprocessing, including cracking to lower boiling range compounds, may provide a high quality product slate with the flexibility to adjust the product slate due to the cracking behavior exhibited by these algae oils. | 09-11-2014 |