Davison Circulating Riser

NLR's Davison circulating riser (DCR) enables researchers to study catalytic fast pyrolysis of biogenic feedstocks and refinery coprocessing with petroleum feedstocks in a pilot-scale fluid catalytic cracking system.

Coupled with an upstream fluid-bed pyrolysis system, NLR's DCR evaluates the catalytic cracking of biogenic feedstocks and coprocessing of biogenic and fossil feedstocks in a commercially relevant system. This enables researchers to produce a range of chemicals and fuels with significant biogenic content.

DCR experiments are supported by NLR's technological scale-up and piloting research. NLR's analysis, characterization, modeling, and artificial intelligence research helps accelerate the translation of laboratory-scale conversion pathways to commercial-scale production.

For more information, see NLR's DCR system fact sheet.

Core Capabilities

NLR's DCR capabilities include:

NLR researchers have extensive experience with biogenic feedstocks ranging from vegetable oils to bio-oil. Custom modifications to the DCR system provide access to high-quality data with excellent mass and carbon balance closure.

Table detailing process metrics and their corresponding values.
Metric	Value
Pressure (bar)	1–4
Riser temperature (°C)	500–575
Regenerator temperature (°C)	650–750
Stripper temperature (°C)	500–600
Total catalyst volume (L)	1.5–3.5
Catalyst circulation rate (kg/h)	2.5–15

Hot gas filtration is used to remove alkali and char particles from fast pyrolysis vapors to improve catalyst lifetime in downstream operations. Online hot gas analysis is provided by molecular beam mass spectrometry for vapors and gas chromatography for non-condensable gases.

NLR has tested a range of commercial and experimental cracking catalysts. This includes evaluating zeolites and metal-modified zeolites for producing hydrocarbons and directing biogenic carbon to specific products. Continuous 8-hour runs at a nominal feed rate of 1 kg/h generate enough product to be separated into fractions by distillation, allowing NLR to characterize chemicals and fuels.

NLR can further upgrade products from the DCR into finished chemicals and fuels, including hydrotreating to produce jet fuel blendstocks with diesel and naphtha as coproducts.

Contact

Nick Chapman

Group Research Manager

Nick.Chapman@nlr.gov

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