The present disclosure relates to a method for controlling product slate of hydrothermal liquefaction by adjusting pH of hydrothermal liquefaction product aqueous phase. The pH of the hydrothermal liquefaction product aqueous phase can be adjusted by heating during hydrothermal liquefaction (110) a mix (30) comprising lignocellulosic feedstock (10) together with acids, alkalis and/or buffers (20) added under aqueous conditions. The method typically comprises separating (120) aqueous phase (53) and oil phase (50), and optionally gas (51) and/or char (52), of the obtained hydrothermal liquefaction product (40). Preferably the separated aqueous phase (53) is recirculated to be mixed 100 with lignocellulosic feedstock (10).

Methods are described herein for upgrading ad refining hydrocarbons, and producing at least one petrochemical product, the method including: preparing a reaction mixture by adding at least two of: a quantity of bioethanol, a quantity of hydrocarbon, and a quantity of water to a reactor containment; combining the reaction mixture with a quantity of catalyst in the reactor containment; applying reaction conditions to the reactor containment thereby generating supercritical conditions for the reaction mixture and obtaining a product mixture; and extracting at least one petrochemical product from the product mixture.

A hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) system can comprise a biomass slurry source, a first pump in fluid communication with the slurry source and configured to pressurize a biomass slurry stream from the slurry source to a first pressure, a first heat exchanger in fluid communication with the first pump and configured to heat a slurry stream received from the first pump to a first temperature, a second pump in fluid communication with the first heat exchanger and configured to pressurize a slurry stream received from the first heat exchanger to a second pressure higher than the first pressure, a second heat exchanger in fluid communication with the second pump and configured to heat a slurry stream received from the second pump to a second temperature higher than the first temperature, and a HTL reactor configured to produce biocrude from a slurry stream received from the second heat exchanger.

A process of producing a distillate fuel from coal includes: preparing a biomass-derived coal solvent; dissolving the coal in the biomass-derived solvent; and separating undissolved coal and mineral matter to produce a syncrude. In certain embodiments, the process further includes subjecting the syncrude to a hydrotreatment/hydrogenation process to produce a distillate fuel. In certain embodiments, the biomass-derived solvent is a hydrogen-donor solvent. A method to improve direct coal liquefaction includes: using a non-hydrogenated lipid in a direct coal liquefaction process to facilitate coal depolymerization. In certain embodiments, the lipid is a polyunsaturated biobased oil. A method for using a biomass-derived feedstock as a hydrogen donor includes: providing a biomass-derived feedstock; modifying the feedstock to improve its usefulness as a hydrogen donor; and conducting a transfer hydrogenation process using the modified feedstock as a hydrogen donor. In certain embodiments, the transfer hydrogenation process is a direct coal liquefaction process.

A process for liquid-liquid extraction of an oil-blend of non-uniform oligomeric and polymeric components comprising: (a) preselecting a desired molecular weight (Mw) boundary between heavy and light components; (b) selecting an extractive solvent or an extractive mixture of solvents, which form essentially a single phase with the light components; (c) mixing the oil-blend and the extractive solvent or extractive mixture of solvents selected in step (b) at elevated temperature, which is at least at or above said fractionation temperature, and wherein the extractive solvent/mixture of solvents to oil-blend ratio is from 1:2 to 100:1; (d) allowing a phase split to form between the heavy components fraction and the light components/extractive solvent fraction at the fractionation temperature or at most 10° C. below the fractionation temperature; (e) followed by separation of said fractions.

A combined hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) and catalytic hydrothermal gasification (CHG) system and process are described that convert various biomass-containing sources into separable bio-oils and aqueous effluents that contain residual organics. Bio-oils may be converted to useful bio-based fuels and other chemical feedstocks. Residual organics in HTL aqueous effluents may be gasified and converted into medium-BTU product gases and directly used for process heating or to provide energy.

Applying electromagnetic energy to a hydrocarbon feed in the presence of at least one of a solvent, a catalyst, an electromagnetic receptor or a hydrogenation agent may result in depolymerization and compositional modification of the hydrocarbon feedstock into at least one of smaller hydrocarbon product fractions or viscosity modification.

Processing of a reaction product mixture containing at least one volatile organic compound as well as lignin, lignin derived compounds, and/or unextracted cellulose and hemicellulose using a recovery system comprising at least two flashers or at least one flasher and at least two reboilers. In a particular embodiment, the reaction product mixture comes from reactions involving deconstruction (or digestion) of biomass, particularly cellulosic biomass which contains various polysaccharides (e.g., carbohydrates) and lignin.

Systems and processes of providing novel thermal energy sources for hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) reactors are described herein. According to various implementations, the systems and processes use concentrated solar thermal energy from a focused high-energy beam to provide sufficient energy for driving the HTL biomass-to-biocrude process. In addition, other implementations convert biowaste, such as municipal biosolids and grease and food waste, to biocrude using anaerobic digesters, and a portion of the biogas generated by the digesters is used to produce the thermal and/or electrical energy used in the HTL reactor for the biomass-to-biocrude process. Furthermore, alternative implementations may include a hybrid system that uses biogas and solar radiation to provide sufficient thermal energy for the HTL reactor.

The present invention relates to a composition comprising lignin and a solvent where the lignin is functionalized with an ether group.