Biomass conversion process to hydrocarbons

1. A process for the production of a higher hydrocarbon from solid biomass, said process comprising:

a. providing a biomass solid containing cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin;

b. digesting and hydrodeoxygenating the biomass solid in a liquid digestive solvent in the presence of a hydrothermal hydrocatalytic catalyst and hydrogen at a temperature in a range of 110° C. to less than 300° C. and at a pressure in a range of from 20 bar to 200 bar, said liquid digestive solvent containing a solvent mixture having a boiling point of at least 40° C., to form a stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product having a viscosity of less than 100 centipoise (at 50° C.), a diol content of at least 2 wt. %, less than 2 wt. % of sugar, and less than 2 wt. % acid (based on acetic acid equivalent), based on the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product, and at least 60% of carbon in the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product exists in molecules having 9 carbon atoms or less;

c. separating the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product to an organic rich phase and an aqueous rich phase;

d. reacting at least a portion of the aqueous rich phase with an acidic amorphous silica alumina catalyst at a temperature in a range from 300° C. to 400° C. to convert diol in the aqueous rich phase into monooxygenate compounds thereby producing monooxygenate-containing stream comprising water, organic monooxygenates, and unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons;

e. contacting at least a portion of the monooxygenate-containing stream with a solid acid condensation catalyst at a temperature in a range from 275° C. to about 425° C. thereby producing a first higher hydrocarbons stream; and

f. contacting at least a portion of the organic rich phase with a solid acid condensation catalyst at a temperature in a range from 275° C. to about 425° C. thereby producing a second higher hydrocarbons stream.

2. The process of claim 1 wherein the monooxygenate-containing stream and the organic rich phase are contacted with the same solid acid condensation catalyst.

3. The process of claim 1 wherein at least one of the solid acid condensation catalyst is ZSM-5.

4. The process of claim 1 wherein at least one of the solid acid condensation catalyst is selected from the group consisting of mineral based acidic catalyst and acidic zeolites.

5. The process of claim 3 wherein the step f produces an aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream having at least 50 wt % of aromatics containing hydrocarbon including toluene based on the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream.

6. The process of claim 5 wherein the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream comprising toluene is added to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product prior to the step c.

7. The process of claim 6 wherein the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream is separated to an aromatics-enriched higher hydrocarbon stream by distillation prior to the addition.

8. The process of claim 1 wherein an aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream comprising toluene is added to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product prior to separation in the step c.

9. The process of claim 8 wherein at least a portion of an organic rich phase containing aromatic hydrocarbons is provided to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product prior to separation in the step c.

10. The process of claim 1 wherein an aliphatic-rich higher hydrocarbon boiling within the range of 40° C. to 210° C. is added to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product prior to separation in the step c.

11. The process of claim 8 wherein at least a portion of an organic rich phase containing aliphatic-rich higher hydrocarbons boiling within a range of 40° C. to 210° C. is provided to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product prior to separation in the step c.

12. The process of claim 1 wherein the step b is carried out at a temperature in a range of 150° C. to 300° C.

13. The process of claim 1 wherein the acidic amorphous silica alumina catalyst has a BET surface area of greater than 200 m 2 /g.

14. The process of claim 1 wherein the hydrothermal hydrocatalytic catalyst is a heterogeneous catalyst.

15. The process of claim 1 wherein the biomass solid is a lignocellulosic biomass.

16. The process of claim 1 wherein a fraction of diol converted in the step d is at least 25%.

17. The process of claim 1 wherein the solid acid condensation catalyst in the step f is selected from the group consisting of mineral based acidic catalyst and acidic zeolites and the solid acid condensation catalyst in the step e is ZSM-5.

18. The process of claim 17 wherein the first higher hydrocarbons stream from the reaction product of the step e is further processed to make gasoline fuel components and the second higher hydrocarbons stream from the reaction product of the step f is further processed to make diesel fuel components.

19. A process for the production of a higher hydrocarbon from solid biomass, said process comprising:

a. providing a biomass solid containing cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin;

b. digesting and hydrodeoxygenating the biomass solid in a liquid digestive solvent in the presence of a hydrothermal hydrocatalytic catalyst and hydrogen at a temperature in a range of 110° C. to less than 300° C. and at a pressure in a range of from 20 bar to 200 bar, said liquid digestive solvent containing a solvent mixture having a boiling point of at least 40° C., to form a stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product having a viscosity of less than 100 centipoise (at 50° C.), a diol content of at least 2 wt. %, less than 2 wt. % of sugar, and less than 2 wt. % acid (based on acetic acid equivalent), based on the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product, and at least 60% of carbon exists in molecules having 9 carbon atoms or less;

c1. adding an aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons comprising toluene to the stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate product thereby providing a toluene-added stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate;

c2. separating the toluene-added stable oxygenated hydrocarbon intermediate to an organic rich phase and an aqueous rich phase;

d. reacting at least a portion of the aqueous rich phase with an acidic amorphous silica alumina catalyst at a temperature in a range from 300° C. to 400° C. to convert diol in the aqueous rich phase into monooxygenate compounds thereby producing monooxygenate-containing stream containing water and organic monooxygenates;

e. contacting at least a portion of the monooxygenate-containing stream with an acidic ZSM-5 catalyst at a temperature in a range from 325° C. to about 425° C. thereby producing water and an aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream comprising toluene;

f. contacting at least a portion of the organic rich phase with solid acid condensation catalyst at a temperature in a range from 275° C. to about 425° C. thereby producing a higher hydrocarbons stream; and

g. recycling at least a portion of the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream comprising toluene obtained in the step e to the step c1 as a portion of the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons.

20. The process of claim 19 wherein the at least a portion of the monooxygenate-containing stream and the at least a portion of the organic rich phase are contacted with the same solid acid condensation catalyst.

21. The process of claim 19 wherein the step e and the step f are conducted in the same reactor.

22. The process of claim 19 wherein at least a portion of the organic rich phase is provided to the step c1 as a portion of the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons.

23. The process of claim 19 wherein the aromatics-rich higher hydrocarbons stream obtained in the step e is separated to an aromatics-enriched higher hydrocarbon stream by distillation prior to the addition in the step c1.

24. The process of claim 19 wherein the acidic amorphous silica alumina catalyst has a BET surface area of greater than 200 m 2 /g.