ORGANICS RECOVERY FROM THE AQUEOUS PHASE OF BIOMASS CATALYTIC PYROLYSIS

1 . A method for recovering a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from an aqueous stream comprising:

a) passing said aqueous stream comprising a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds to a removal zone A for contact with a sorbent A comprising a polymeric microreticular sorbent resin for removal of at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream forming a removed quantity A comprising water-soluble organic compounds;

b) passing said aqueous stream from said removal zone A to a removal zone B for contact with a sorbent B for removal of at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream forming a removed quantity B comprising water-soluble organic compounds; and

c) recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity A from said removal zone A forming recovered quantity A and recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity B from said removal zone B forming recovered quantity B.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein said polymeric microreticular sorbent resin of sorbent A is selected from the group consisting of Amberlite, Osorb, Amberlyst, Super adsorbent, and mixtures thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein a bio-oil/water stream comprising a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds, water-insoluble organic compounds, and water is separated into a bio-oil stream comprising water-insoluble organic compounds and into said aqueous stream; and wherein said recovered quantities A and B recovered in step c) are combined with said bio-oil stream.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein said sorbent B is selected from the group consisting of polymeric microreticular sorbent resins, zeolite-based adsorbents, clay-based adsorbents, activated carbon-based sorbents, and mixtures thereof.

5 . The method of claim 4 wherein said polymeric microreticular sorbent resins are selected from the group consisting of Amberlite, Osorb, Amberlyst, Super adsorbent, and mixtures thereof.

6 . The method of claim 4 wherein said zeolite-based adsorbents are selected from the group consisting of X-Faujasite, Y-Faujasite, ZSM-5, zeolite-A, and mixtures thereof; and said clay-based adsorbents are selected from the group consisting of kaolin, bentonite, chlorite, perovskite, smectite, organoclays and mixtures thereof.

7 . The method of claim 4 wherein said activated carbon-based sorbents are selected from the group consisting of microporous activated carbon, mesoporous activated carbon, carbon molecular sieves, carbon microbeads, carbon powder, granular activated carbon, and mixtures thereof.

8 . The method of claim 4 wherein the recovering of removed quantities in step c), when from a sorbent selected from the group consisting of at least one of said polymeric microreticular sorbent resins, is carried out by chemical displacement at temperatures in the range of about 20° C. to about 200° C. using a solvent selected from the group consisting of i) renewable gasoline, ii) toluene, iii) xylene, iv) an oxygenated solvent selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, methylbutyl ketone, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, and v) mixtures thereof.

9 . The method of claim 4 wherein the recovering of removed quantities in step c), when from a sorbent selected from the group consisting of at least one of said zeolite-based adsorbents, at least one of said clay-based adsorbents, at least one of said activated carbon-based sorbents, and mixtures thereof, is carried out by thermal desorption by:

i) heating said sorbent to a temperature in the range of from about 20° C. to about 150° C., under an inert gas stream at up to atmospheric pressure, and partially condensing the resulting first effluent at a temperature in the range of from about 20° C. to about 40° C. for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, followed by partial condensation at a temperature in the range of from about −100° C. to about −50° C. for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, forming a first recovered quantity; and

ii) thereafter heating said sorbent to a temperature in the range of from about 150° C. to about 500° C. under at least a partial vacuum and for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, and partially condensing the resulting second effluent at a temperature in the range of from about −100° C. to about −50° C., forming a second recovered quantity.

10 . The method of claim 4 wherein the recovering of removed quantities in step c), when from a sorbent selected from the group consisting of at least one of said activated carbon-based sorbents, is carried out by chemical displacement using a supercritical solvent selected from the group consisting of supercritical CO 2 , supercritical propane, supercritical butane, supercritical toluene, supercritical xylene, and mixtures thereof.

11 . The method of claim 4 wherein, prior to step a), said aqueous stream is passed to a removal zone C for removal of at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream forming a removed quantity C comprising water-soluble organic compounds; and wherein step c) further comprises recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity C from said removal zone C forming recovered quantity C.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein said removal zone C comprises a sorbent C selected from the group consisting of zeolite-based adsorbents, clay-based adsorbents, and mixtures thereof, which sorbs at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream through contact with said sorbent C forming said removed quantity C.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein, prior to step a), said aqueous stream is passed from removal zone C to a removal zone D comprising a super absorbent polymer for removal of at least a portion of the water from said aqueous stream through contact with said super absorbent polymer and yielding a stream of recovered quantity D comprising concentrated water-soluble organic compounds; and further comprising regenerating said super absorbent polymer by heating at a temperature between about 50° C. and about 90° C. under an inert gas flow having a GHSV of at least about 0.5 h −1

14 . The method of claim 11 wherein said removal zone C comprises an extraction zone wherein said aqueous stream is contacted with a solvent selected from the group consisting of i) renewable gasoline, ii) toluene, iii) xylene, iv) oxygenated solvents selected from the group consisting of methanol, ethanol, isopropanol, acetone, methylbutyl ketone, tetrahydrofuran, ethyl acetate, and v) mixtures thereof for extractive removal of at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream forming said removed quantity C.

15 . The method of claim 4 wherein, following step a) and prior to step b), said aqueous stream is passed to a removal zone E comprising a super absorbent polymer for removal of at least a portion of the water from said aqueous stream through contact with said super absorbent polymer and yielding a stream of recovered quantity E comprising concentrated water-soluble organic compounds; and further comprising regenerating said super absorbent polymer by heating at a temperature between about 50° C. and about 90° C. under an inert gas flow having a GHSV of at least about 0.5 h −1 .

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein, prior to step a), said aqueous stream is passed to a removal zone F comprising a zeolite-based adsorbent which sorbs at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream through contact with said zeolite-based adsorbent forming a removed quantity F comprising water-soluble organic compounds; and wherein step c) further comprises recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity F from said removal zone F forming recovered quantity F.

17 . The method of claim 4 wherein, following step b), said aqueous stream is passed to a removal zone G comprising a super absorbent polymer for removal of at least a portion of the water from said aqueous stream through contact with said super absorbent polymer and yielding a stream of recovered quantity G comprising concentrated water-soluble organic compounds; and

further comprising regenerating said super absorbent polymer by heating at a temperature between about 50° C. and about 90° C. under an inert gas flow having a GHSV of at least about 0.5 h −1 .

18 . The method of claim 17 wherein, prior to step a), said aqueous stream is passed to a removal zone H comprising a sorbent H selected from the group consisting of zeolite-based adsorbents, clay-based adsorbents, and mixtures thereof, which sorbs at least a portion of the water-soluble organic compounds from said aqueous stream through contact with said sorbent H forming a removed quantity H comprising water-soluble organic compounds;

and wherein step c) further comprises recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity H from said removal zone H forming recovered quantity H.

19 . A method for recovering a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from an aqueous stream comprising:

a) separating a bio-oil/water stream comprising a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds, water-insoluble organic compounds, and water into a bio-oil stream comprising water-insoluble organic compounds and into said aqueous stream comprising a water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds;

b) contacting said aqueous stream with an activated carbon-based sorbent for removal of at least a portion of the water-soluble complex mixture of organic compounds from said aqueous stream forming a removed quantity comprising water-soluble organic compounds, wherein the activated carbon-based sorbent has been surface treated in a manner resulting in a reduction in the number of polar and/or charged groups on the surface, and wherein at least 40% of the pore volume of the activated carbon-based sorbent results from pores having diameters in the range of from about 15 Å to about 50 Å; and

c) recovering at least a portion of said removed quantity from said activated carbon-based sorbent forming a recovered quantity; wherein said recovered quantity is combined with said bio-oil stream.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein step c) is carried out by:

i) recovering a first recovered quantity of said removed quantity from said activated carbon-based sorbent by heating said activated carbon-based sorbent to a temperature in the range of from about 20° C. to about 150° C. under an inert gas stream at up to atmospheric pressure, and partially condensing the resulting first effluent at a temperature in the range of from about 20° C. to about 40° C. for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, followed by partial condensation at a temperature in the range of from about −100° C. to about −50° C. for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, forming said first recovered quantity; and

ii) thereafter recovering a second recovered quantity of said removed quantity from said activated carbon-based sorbent by heating said activated carbon-based sorbent to a temperature in the range of from about 150° C. to about 450° C. under at least a partial vacuum and for a period of time between about 0.5 to about 4 hours, and partially condensing the resulting second effluent at a temperature in the range of from about −100° C. to about −50° C., forming said second recovered quantity.

21 . The method of claim 19 wherein step c) is carried out by chemical displacement using a supercritical solvent selected from the group consisting of supercritical CO 2 , supercritical propane, supercritical butane, supercritical toluene, supercritical xylene, and mixtures thereof.