The Bio Fuel Laboratory performs production, tests and chemical analysis of Bio Fuel and other fuels. It consists of 2 laboratories and a HTL production facility:

• HTL facility - 20 kg/h feed plant with processing conditions up to 450°C/350 bar
• Bio Fuel Production & Test Lab - equipment for lab scale production and testing fuels e.g. hydrotreater, lab scale HTL set up, catalyst activation set-up
• Bio Fuel Analyses Lab - analytical instruments facilitating analysis of oils, water samples and solid substances i.a. SimDist, GC/MS, GC, CHNS/O etc.

Continuous Hydrothermal Liquefaction (HTL) facility CBS

The Continuous Bench Scale 1 (CBS1) HTL facility has a capacity of 20-30 kg/h feed. Processing conditions are up to 500 deg C, 350 bar. The plant is equipped with state-of-the-art controls, high resolution instrumentation, online gas sampling, gravity-assisted product separation and oil demineralization. A wide range of input biomasses are possible (wood, manure, algae etc).

For further details click here: HTL plant

Bio Fuel Production & Test Lab

The Bio Fuel Production & Test Lab offers the possibility of testing performance of Bio Fuels and other fuels in lab/pilot plant scale.
The lab consists of a variety of instruments - hydrotreater, lab scale HTL set up, catalyst activation set-up, etc.

Production/Test Equipment

Hydrotreater
Our continuous hydrotreater involves a pumping system for bio-oil, two tubular reactors (to be run in series or parallel) and a product separation section. It is fully automated and can be controlled through LabView® interface. A bio-oil throughput of 300 mL/h can be achieved.

Distillation System
Buchi Rotavapor R-210; a pressure and temperature controlled vacuum distillation system. Packed column vacuum distillation column, 15 theoretical plates, 2 l boiling flask capacity.

Activation SeT-UP
The Activation Set-up is constructed to reduce and activate catalysts for Hydrotreater experiments.

Lab scale Reactors - 5-15 mL
Micro batch reactor systems for parametric studies. Very rapid heating up to max 500°C, quench cooling. Online pressure and external temperature sampling.

Lab scale Reactors - 400 mL system
The 400 ml autoclave equipped with stirring, a cooling coil, a heater and an external high pressure injection pot. Can operate in batch mode or injection, when desired reaction conditions have been reached. The system is rated for 350 bar/500°C.

Lab scale Reactors - 1 L system
The 1 l system is a semi-continuous system consisting of a 1 l autoclave equipped with a high pressure injection pot and a batch disposal system. The disposal system consists of a flash-drum and condenser which enables repeatable experiments without disassembling the system. The system is rated for 350 bar/500°C.

Bio Fuel Analysis Lab

Bio Fuel Analysis Lab possesses a variety of Analytical instruments facilitating analysis of oils, water samples and solid substances. The equipment constitutes i.a. SimDist, GC/MS, GC, CHNS/O elemental analyzer, FT-IR, Karl Fischer titration unit, etc.

Analysis equipment        

SimDist
SimDist is constituted of a multi-dimensional GC/GCMS system performing separations using two columns with different chromatographic selectivity.

GC Gas Chromatography (GC Gas)
For Gas sample analysis the lab has a GC unit available. The system is used for the identification and quantification of components in gas from HTL plant and micro reactors.

GC/MS - Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC/MS)
For sample analysis the lab has a GC/MS unit available. The system is used for the identification and quantification of components in feedstock and products.

Elemental AnalyzeR CHNS
Perkin-Elmer model 2400 CHNS/O. Determining weight percent carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur or oxygen in solid and oils. Operates in 3 modes: CHN, CHNS and O.

Bomb calorimeter
IKA C2000 Basic v2 for determining the Gross Calorific Value of solid and liquid combustible materials.

Flash Point Analyser
PAC Herzog OptiFlash Small Scale Analyser determines flashpoint for low volume samples of petroleum products, biodiesels, solvents and chemicals

FT-IR - Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy
Thermo Scientific Nicolet 380 FT-IR spectrometer is an easy-to-use system for the identification and quantification of components of gas, liquid or solid mixtures.

Viscometer
For a wide range of viscosity measurement the lab provides a Brookfield Thermosel™ RVDV-II PRO Viscometer with multiple spindles and a SSA temperature controller. The viscosity and temperature range is 25-10M cP and 1-300 ℃, respectively.

Karl-Ficher titration unit
Titration unit for determination of water content of fuels, oils, organic solvents and other materials.

Miscellaneous

• Centrifuge - Sigma 6-16HS table top centrifuge with heating. Maximum capacity of 4 x 800 m
• Kern moisture analyzer
• Mettler Toledo pH-meter
• A range of weights and ovens