Combustion plants
Renewable transport fuels
Slow speed diesel engines

Renewable electricity

The BioOil produced by pyrolysis offers a particular advantage for renewable electricity – it may be stored and it may also be transported.

So the oil can provide power generation at a site that is remote from the source of biomass.  The waste heat produced during power generation may also be used, for example to generate process steam.

Cogeneration in this way can achieve overall efficiencies of 70% or more.

Gas turbines

Orenda gas turbine

Orenda Aerospace Corporation of Canada has built more than 5,000 gas turbines.  Over recent years it has developed equipment to use pyrolysis oil in specially modified gas turbines, with the oil first being conditioned in a treatment module.  The first commercial Orenda unit to operate on pyrolysis oil is installed at Dynamotive’s pyrolysis plant in West Lorne.

The Orenda GT2500 turbine can provide flexible, base load power, generating up to 2.7 MWe continuously at ISO conditions from a BioOil supply of up to 2 tonnes per hour.  It also produces thermal energy, which may be recovered as steam via a waste heat boiler.

This steam may be used to help boost the gas turbine output to 4 MWe via direct injection.  Alternatively it may be used in a steam turbine or for process heat.

For larger power plants a 16 MWe gas turbine is also available which, with steam injection, can provide up to 25 MWe on a continuous basis. 

Combustion plants

Pyrolysis oil may also be used as a fuel in combustion/boiler systems, including industrial applications such as food processing plants and saw mills.  It can replace or augment fuel oil, coal or natural gas and provide renewable electricity and heat.  As a renewable fuel it is eligible for consideration under a variety of emissions trading and renewable energy programs in Australia and overseas.


Renewable transport fuels

While BioOil is a versatile liquid fuel with many useful applications, it is not readily applicable to the engines and turbines typically used in modern road and air transport. To be able to upgrade pyrolysis BioOil to transport fuels is a “game changing” opportunity. Dynamotive has devoted considerable research effort to this opportunity over a number of years and now has technology that can successfully upgrade BioOil to transport fuels. Independent testing by major oil companies shows these fuels have properties similar to the conventional fuels diesel, petrol and jet fuel. In 2010 Dynamotive commenced a collaboration with IFP Energies Nouvelles, one of the world's leading fuel technology groups, to progress the upgrading technology. Please refer to the NEWS section of our website for further information.

From a commercial perspective, the Dynamotive processes for pyrolysis and upgrading offer a number of unique advantages:

  • Commercial pyrolysis plants can be significantly smaller than plants built around other second generation technologies. This can allow fuel production from biomass sources that are too small for use with other processes.
  • Upgrading can occur at the pyrolysis plant or at a separate site (including oil refineries). Multiple pyrolysis units can provide feed for a single, centralised upgrading plant. This allows the ability to build pyrolysis modules close to sources of biomass as they become available then transport the (energy dense) pyrolysis oil to a centralised upgrading plant.
  • Upgrading work to date has demonstrated very high yields of hydrocarbon fuels. Dynamotive has demonstrated a net overall yield from biomass to diesel/gasoline at approximately 25%, which to the their knowledge is the highest ever reported.
  • Upgrading focuses on transport fuels, without the need to make electricity from part of the biomass feed.
  • Multiple fuel types are created.


Slow speed diesel engines

Dynamotive is collaborating with Mitsui Engineering and Shipbuilding Co Ltd (MES) to test BioOil as an alternative fuel in large diesel engines. MES is one of the world's largest manufactureres of slow and medium speed diesels for marine transport and power generation. Individual engines have power outputs of as much as 20 MW.
about us | pyrolysis | renewable energy | other products | projects | news | environment | employment | contact/map

Renewable Oil Corporation Pty Ltd ABN 21 106 161 246
Suite 3, 651 Canterbury Road, Surrey Hills. Vic. 3127
PO Box 175, Surrey Hills. Vic. 3127. Australia
Tel: (61 3) 9895 1200   Fax: (61 3) 9895 1249
Disclaimer | Sitemap