Patent ID: 8888871

Claim:
A process for producing a renewable fuel, said process comprising: (a) providing one or more bio-oils selected from the group consisting of a high stability bio-oil, an intermediate-stability bio-oil, and a low-stability bio-oil, wherein said high stability bio-oil has a stability parameter of less than 30 centipoise per hour (cp/h), said intermediate-stability bio-oil has a stability parameter in the range of 30 to 75 cp/h, and said low stability bio-oil has a stability parameter greater than 75 cp/h; and (b) processing at least one of said bio-oils in a petroleum refinery according to one or more of the following methods (i) through (vi)— (i) combining at least a portion of said high-stability bio-oil with a first petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a first combined stream, hydrotreating said first combined stream to thereby produce a first hydrotreated stream, and fractionating said first hydrotreated stream; (ii) combining at least a portion of said high-stability, bio-oil with a second petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a second combined stream, catalytically cracking said second combined stream to thereby produce a second cracked stream, and fractionating said second cracked stream; (iii) combining at least a portion of said intermediate-stability bio-oil with a third petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a third combined stream, hydrotreating said third combined stream to thereby produce a third hydrotreated stream, catalytically cracking at least a portion of said third hydrotreated stream to thereby produce a third cracked stream, and fractionating said third cracked stream; (iv) combining at least a portion of said intermediate-stability bio-oil with a fourth petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a fourth combined stream, hydrotreating said fourth combined stream to thereby produce a fourth hydrotreated stream, thermally cracking at least a portion of said fourth hydrotreated stream to thereby produce a fourth cracked stream, and fractionating said fourth cracked stream; (v) combining at least a portion of said low-stability bio-oil with a fifth petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a fifth combined stream, thermally cracking at least a portion of said fifth combined stream to thereby produce a fifth cracked stream, and fractionating said fifth cracked stream; and/or (vi) combining at least a portion of said low-stability bio-oil with a sixth petroleum-derived stream of said petroleum refinery to thereby form a sixth combined stream, fractionating at least a portion of said sixth combined stream into at least a sixth heavy bio-fraction and a sixth light bio-fraction, hydrotreating at least a portion of said sixth light bio-fraction to thereby produce a sixth hydrotreated bio-fraction, and thermally cracking at least a portion of said sixth heavy bio-fraction to thereby produce a sixth thermally cracked bio-fraction.