Blends of low carbon and conventional fuels with improved performance characteristics
The present invention provides a blended fuel and methods for producing the blended fuel, wherein a low carbon fuel derived from a renewable resource such as biomass, is blended with a traditional, petroleum derived fuel. A blended fuel which includes greater than 10% by volume of low carbon fuel has an overall improved lifecycle greenhouse gas content of about 5% or more compared to the petroleum derived fuel. Also, blending of the low carbon fuel to the traditional, petroleum fuel improves various engine performance characteristics of the traditional fuel.
1. A blended fuel consisting of:
(a) a petroleum fuel; and
(b) a low carbon fuel,
wherein the low carbon fuel has a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content which is at least about 50% lower than a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content of the petroleum fuel, and the low carbon fuel has at least two performance characteristic values which are at least about 30% improved than corresponding performance characteristic values of the petroleum fuel; and
wherein the blended fuel has a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content which is at least 5% lower than the well-to-wheels greenhouse content of the petroleum fuel, and the blended fuel has at least two performance characteristic values, selected from a group of performance characteristic values consisting of cetane number, sulfur content, lubricity and oxidative stability, which are at least about 5% improved than corresponding performance characteristic values of the petroleum fuel.
2. The blended fuel of claim 1 , wherein the lubricity value of the low carbon fuel is at least 30% lower than the lubricity value of the petroleum fuel.
3. The blended fuel of claim 1 , wherein the cetane number of the low carbon diesel fuel is at least 30% higher than the cetane number of the petroleum diesel fuel.
4. The blended fuel of claim 1 , wherein the lubricity value of the low carbon fuel is less than about 450 microns by HFRR at 60° C.
5. A process for producing a blended fuel wherein the process comprises the following steps:
producing a low carbon fuel from a renewable biomass feedstock using a first process, wherein the first process consists of the following steps:
generating syngas from a renewable biomass feedstock;
subjecting the syngas to cleanup and conditioning steps to provide clean syngas;
catalytically reacting the clean syngas to produce a low carbon fuel, wherein the low carbon fuel has a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content which is lower than a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content of the petroleum fuel, and the low carbon fuel has at least two performance characteristic values which are at least about 30% improved than corresponding performance characteristic values of the petroleum fuel, and wherein the performance characteristic values are cetane number and oxidative stability;
blending the low carbon fuel with a petroleum diesel fuel using a second process, wherein the second process consists of adding the low carbon fuel and petroleum diesel fuel to one another to produce the blended fuel, wherein the blended fuel has a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content which is at least 5% lower than the well-to-wheels greenhouse content of the petroleum fuel, and the blended fuel has at least two performance characteristic values which are at least about 5% improved than corresponding performance characteristic values of the petroleum fuel, and wherein the performance characteristic values are cetane number and oxidative stability.
6. The process of claim 5 , wherein the catalyst has a pore diameter greater than about 120 angstroms, an effective pellet radius of less than 600 microns, a crush strength of greater than 3 lbs/mm, and a BET surface area greater than 100 m 2 /g.
7. The process of claim 6 , wherein the catalyst is produced in a fixed bed reactor that is reduced in-situ at a temperature below 550° C.
8. The process of claim 6 , wherein the low carbon fuel is a non-ester diesel fuel and the petroleum fuel is a petro diesel fuel.
9. The process of claim 6 , wherein the low carbon fuel has a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content which is at least about 50% lower than a well-to-wheels greenhouse gas content of the petroleum fuel.