Seminari

Carlo Emanuele e Maria Rosa Tiscornia

Abstract

Liquid carbon-neutral biofuels are largely considered a possible way to face the new energy needs without dramatically increasing the carbon dioxide concentration in the Earth atmosphere. For European oil companies, diesel fuels are most important since, in Europe, the diesel to gasoline ratio is steadily increasing. Accordingly, this contribution will focus on the production of diesel fuels based on renewables.

Today the majority of biodiesel production is based on the transesterification of vegetable oils (e.g. rapeseed, soy and palm oils) with methanol to produce fatty acid methyl ester (FAME). Beside some drawbacks of FAME biodiesel with respect to its performances, several concerns have raised related with the sustainability of these so called first generation biofuel. Few other technologies are currently applied to produce biodiesel fuels. But several are under development. Considerable industrial achievements have been reported, for instance, in the hydrotreating of vegetable oils and animal fats (HVO). Ecofining HVO technology, jointly developed by eni/UOP, has been already applied by eni in the green refinery of Venice (Italy).

In order to find alternative feedstocks, there is also significant interest for routes to transform cellulosic sugar (i.e., produced via a proper hydrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass) into microbial lipids. This fermentation would provide a possible way to overcome the productivity limitations of classic oleaginous crops.

Even larger oil productivity can be achieved, by cultivation of photosynthetic microalgae, growing on carbon dioxide from industrial activities, power plants and natural gas wells, able to accumulate a significant amount of oils (triglycerides) as energy storage material inside the cell.

Alternatively, diesel biofuels can be obtained starting from domestic organic waste biomass by hydrothermal liquefaction processing followed by a HDO/HDN upgrading treatment of the produced bio-oil.

Eventually, it is most likely that the success of one or the other of these technologies will depend on several factors, including the availability and the quality of the feedstock, the complexity of the process, the integration with the existing refinery processes, and the quality of the final biofuel.

 

 

C.V.

Carlo Perego is the director of the Istituto Eni Donegani, the Corporate Research Centre for Renewable  Energy & Environment  of Eni, the Italian oil company. He received the Laurea in Industrial Chemistry in 1978 from the State University of  Milan and a Post-Degree Specialization Certificate in R&D Management at the Bocconi University of Milan.  After two experiences in research centre’s of chemical companies (Montedison SpA, 1980-1989, and 3V Sigma,  1989-1990), he joined Eni at the research Centre of San Donato, near Milan, where he worked in the catalysis department, covering the position of responsible for catalytic processes and catalyst preparation for refining e petrochemistry. In 2001 he became the manager of the Physical Chemistry Department of the same Centre. In 2007 he moved to the current position at the Research Centre for Renewable Energy & Environment, dealing with a new research program devoted to solar energy, biofuels and environmental technologies. He has been President of the Industrial Chemistry Division of the Italian Chemical Society (2001-2003). He is member of the Catalysis Commission of the International Zeolite Association since 1998. He holds 55 patents and has authored more than 90 scientific papers, mainly concerning catalysis and environmentally friendly  catalytic processes.

Atti seminario C. Perego

DICCA

Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Chimica e Ambientale

Scuola

Politecnica

di ingegneria e Architettura