Hydrothermal conversion facility

The NRC's hydrothermal conversion facility is focused on developing and advancing promising technologies for converting challenging waste streams (such as food wastes, algae, sewage sludge and micro-plastics) into various gaseous/liquid biofuels and high value products.

The NRC's hydrothermal conversion facility is focused on developing and advancing promising technologies for converting challenging waste streams (such as food wastes, algae, sewage sludge and micro-plastics) into various gaseous/liquid biofuels and high value products.

Our capabilities

The facility contains a number of high temperature and pressure batch/continuous reactors that can operate at conditions up to 500°C and 30 MPa, used for liquid fuel production through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), gaseous fuel production using catalytic hydrothermal gasification (HTG), and bio-crude upgrading. Research is also ongoing into conversion of waste to gaseous fuels above the critical point of water through supercritical water gasification (SCWG).

Why work with us

The NRC is a recognized leader in the area of fuel production and has unique facilities that offer evaluation/optimization of hydrothermal processes using client specific feedstocks, production of bio-crude for use in energy conversion processes, material characterization, and technology/process development.

A suite of techniques including gas/liquid chromatography, calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), elemental analysis, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) are used to understand the properties/nature of the feedstocks and products.

Equipment

  • Continuous HTL system: The NRC's HTL pilot unit (up to 5 kg/h feed) is designed and custom fabricated for testing, developing and demonstrating the HTL technology, and is one of very few in Canada at this scale. It allows for the technology development of HTL processes at scales relevant to an industrial installation.
  • Hydrothermal dual-reactor gasifier: A dual reactor system for a 2-step gasification of waste feedstock using a novel heat transfer mechanism. It is operated semi-continuously at pressures and temperatures above the critical point of water, taking advantage of the beneficial properties of super-critical water for conversion of waste to gases, primarily hydrogen.
  • Batch autoclaves and tubular reactors for catalytic and non-catalytic thermochemical conversions and upgrading.
  • High shear homogenizer/wet mill for pre-processing of heterogeneous bio-feedstocks and waste streams.

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Contact us

Darryl Roberts,
Director, Research and Development
Email: Darryl.Roberts@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Adam Shales,
Client Relationship Leader
Email: Adam.Shales@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca

Locations

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