Preliminary Investigation of Pyrolysis Oil Upgrading Via Emulsification with Biodiesel

Fast pyrolysis of biomass is a thermochemical process for producing fuels and chemicals from renewable sources that gained the attention of the scientific community during the last decades. Significant progress has been made in the last years towards the lack of availability and consistency of bio­oil; nevertheless, the chemico­physical properties of crude bio­oil such as low pH, high viscosity, and immiscibility with diesel fuel still do not easily allow its direct use in power and heat generation. We report the preliminary results of emulsification of bio­oil with biodiesel in different amounts and with the help of various surfactants and co­surfactant as an upgrading path. The effect of emulsification of small amounts of bio­oil in biodiesel was investigated. Several commercially available non­ionic surfactants were tested, and their effect on the stability of the produced emulsions was monitored.