FACT SHEET – Second Gen Bio-Crude
Licella’s sustainable ‘drop-in’ bio-crude
Low cost waste, such as sawdust from planta-
tion pine sawmilling, is suitable feedstock for
the commercial production of highly valuable
bio-crude oil.
Licella has developed a unique Catalytic Hydro-
thermal Reactor (Cat-HTR), system for con-
verting ‘lignocellulosic’ biomass into high value
synthetic crude oil ideally suited to the produc-
tion of mainstream transport fuels.
The biomass is injected into the system as a
simple water slurry, which is pressurised, heat-
ed, and rapidly transformed by Cat-HTR into
refinery ‘drop-in’ ready bio-crude.
A wide range of biomass is suited to the process
including forestry and agricultural residues as
well as micro and macro algae.
How second generation biofuels
help the environment
Biomass is produced through plants’ use of CO2
and other nutrients for growth. Use of bio-
crude-derived transport fuel in place of identical density of between 16 and 19 MJ/Kg.
fossil-crude based products therefore reduces
net atmospheric CO2 emissions.
First generation biofuels refer to the fuels that transported, and it’s ‘miscible’ which means it
have been derived from sources such as starch, can be blended.
sugar, animal fats and vegetable oil.
Many are made from food crops, or at least
grown on land on which food could have been
produced.
As Australia’s population and that of the world
grows, it is becoming increasingly important for
agricultural land to be used to produce food, not
crops for biofuels.
Second generation biofuels are produced from
sustainable feedstock—defined as such by its
availability, impact on greenhouse gas emissions
and impact on biodiversity and land use.
Cat-HTR bio-crude is a breakthrough in that
inedible, very low value biomass waste or plan-
tation forest fibres can now be used on a sus-
tainable and fully renewable basis to produce a
full range of conventional liquid fuels.
Licella’s world first
Licella has developed the world’s first one-step
process for producing an advanced and highly
stable bio-crude oil.
Licella’s bio-crude oil is an advanced product
that can easily be accommodated in the conven- The company hopes to commence construction in
tional refining process. late 2015.
Petrochemical refineries can blend Licella’s bio- Once ‘dropped in’ to an oil refinery production
crude into the refining process by blending it supply, an oil refiner can no longer differentiate
with petroleum crude oil and becoming petrol, between fuel products derived from crude oil
diesel, jet fuel or chemical feedstock. and those derived from bio-crude—it’s all the
same.
What’s different is reduced CO2 emissions and
Competitive advantages security of supply. Despite experiencing huge
Conventional second generation bio-crude volumes of through-put, petroleum crude is
‘pyrolysis’ systems less efficiently remove oxy- becoming increasingly costly due to extraction
gen from the bio-crude, requiring a costly and geo-political constraints. Our product is
‘second-step’ to become refinery ‘drop-in’ renewable.
ready. Licella’s Cat-HTR technology clears the way for
Licella’s Cat-HTR produced sustainable bio-crude establishment of sustainable bio-crude produc-
is ideally suited to producing a full range of tion plants near bio-mass sources around the
transport fuels including petrol, diesel and jet world.
fuel.
The input feedstock slurry can be made from
waste water and a host of different biomass
types.
Licella Bio-crude has a very high energy density
of 34 to 36 MJ/Kg. Ethanol has energy density
of 28 to 29 MJ/Kg and pyrolysis oils have energy
Additionally, the product has similar ‘fractions’
to petroleum crude, it’s stable and can easily be
It can be produced at the biomass source, avoid-
ing transport costs and has a low greenhouse
gas impact and is neither acidic nor alkaline (i.e.
pH neutral).
At the fuel refinery
What’s needed is a first
large-scale project to get the
ball rolling.
Licella anticipates its first commercial
scale plant will generate production vol-
umes of around 500,000 barrels of bio-crude
oil per annum.
 FACT SHEET – Production process

Rapid transformation from sawdust into bio-crude

The following points represent a simplified LICELLA PETROLEUM TYPICAL
overview of Licella’s single-step bio-crude pro- PROPERTY
BIO-CRUDE CRUDE PYROLYSIS OIL
duction process. Energy Content—Gross Calorific value
34-36 MJ/kg 44 16-19
(dry basis) Mega joules per kg
 Feedstock Slurry The waste bio-mass is Oxygen Content (Mass %—dry basis) 8-14% Up to 1.5% 35-40%
Carbon Content (Mass %—dry basis) 80-82% 83-87% 54-58%
injected as a water slurry.
Hydrogen Content (Mass %—dry basis) 6-8% 10-14% 5.5-7%
 Feedstock Pressurisation The feedstock is
Nitrogen Content (Mass %—dry basis) 0-0.2% 0.1-2% 0-0.2%
pressurised to assist sustained chemical Sulphur Content (Mass %—dry basis) 0.01-0.03% 0.05-6% 0.01%
reaction. Water Solubility Insoluble Insoluble Soluble
 Feedstock Super Heating Using recovered Water Content (before drying) 4-6% Up to 1% 15-30%
energy feedstock is pre-heated and then pH (of water) (6-8.5) - 2.5
super heated, whilst still under pressure. Chloride salt content of oil % (dissolved
<0.001 0.01-0.05 Unknown
in water before drying / desalting)
 Catalytic Reactor Phase Feedstock, now at
change-critical reaction pressure and tem-
perature passes through the Catalytic Hy-
drothermal Reactor (Cat-HTR) where it is
transformed. SINGLE-STEP HIGH ENERGY
 Product Depressurisation Heat energy is In a single step, Licella produces a high
quickly recovered as the product is brought density bio-crude which can be upgraded
(hydro-processed) to remove its remain-
back to normal pressure and temperature. ing oxygen alongside traditional crude oil
 Oil Recovery Now an emulsion of oil, wa- in existing refineries.
ter and organic compounds, key products Additionally, the product is ideally suited
to making a full range of fuels such as
are separated. Bio-crude oil is recovered. petrol, diesel and jet fuel.
 Water Recycling Waste water is filtered Most bio-fuel competitors can only
produce one fuel type—i.e. Ethanol.
and organic compounds removed for sale
With Licella bio-crude oil there are no Pyrolysis
as fertiliser feedstock. compromises—but plenty of competitive
 Bio-crude Shipment Bio-crude undergoes advantages.
further water removal and is shipped to a
refinery.
 Oil Refinery The bio-crude is ‘dropped in’
Unlike petroleum crude, Licella’s bio-crude
at an advanced stage of refining and used
is made from taking CO2 directly out of the
to produce petrol, diesel, jet fuel and other atmosphere—thereby helping reduce net
petro-chemical equivalent products. atmospheric carbon dioxide emissions.

Licella’s bio-crude has properties that are similar and in Licella bio-crude is refinery
Processed
Woodchips some respects superior (lower sulphur and soluble chloride) drop-in ready.
to petroleum crude. It is far superior to and has none of the
Slurry
issues of pyrolysis oil (low energy, unstable, corrosive).
Preparation

Reactor Pressure
Vessels Letdown and
Flash Steam
Recovery
Oil
Slurry Separation
Storage
Heat Recovery
Exchanger
Oil Polishing

High Pressure
Slurry Pump

Slurry Oil Storage

Pre-Heater
Fluid Bed
Slurry Heater Oil to Refinery

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