ABSTRACT
Around 1980 an extensive study was made of the open literature on conversion of biomass into liquid fuels. Various laboratories in Europe and North America were visited and international biomass conversion conferences were attended. The Non Traditional Business (NTB) and Shell Research divisions decided to focus the work on two conversion routes, gasification plus Fischer-Tropsch synthesis and HTU® plus HDO. The gasification route was worked out by NTB (London) together with external parties. The Amsterdam Laboratory started experimental work on the HTU® route. 20.3 Exploratory Work on HTU® by Shell
20.3.1 Autoclave ExperimentsEarlier, exploratory research work had been started, originally on the beneficiation of peat. This work was now directed to scouting experiments on HTU®. Herman Ruyter, a talented and very enthusiastic inventor, was the project supervisor (Fig. 20.2).
