Elemental migration and characterization of products during hydrothermal liquefaction of cornstalk. (November 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Zhangbing; Si, Buchun; Lu, Jianwen; Watson, Jamison; Zhang, Yuanhui; Liu, Zhidan
• Is Part Of: Bioresource technology. Volume 243(2017)
• Page Start: 9
• Page End: 16
• Publication Date: 2017-11
• Subjects: Hydrothermal liquefaction -- Cornstalk -- Biorefinery -- Biocrude production -- Elemental migration; Biomass -- Periodicals; Biomass energy -- Periodicals; Bioremediation -- Periodicals; Agricultural wastes -- Periodicals; Factory and trade waste -- Periodicals; Organic wastes -- Periodicals; Bioénergie -- Périodiques; Déchets agricoles -- Périodiques; Déchets industriels -- Périodiques; Déchets organiques -- Périodiques; Déchets (Combustible) -- Périodiques; 662.88
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.06.085
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-8524

Abstract

Highlights: Hydrothermal liquefaction of cornstalk was studied at different temperatures. Elemental migration and products characteristics were specifically investigated. Temperature significantly affects element distribution and product properties. Similar compounds were found in biocrude made at different temperature ranges. Explore the potential of HTL products for use in a biofinery. Abstract: Biofuel production from lignocellulosic biomass through hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising direction. This study characterized the products and investigated the elemental migration during the HTL of cornstalk at seven different operation temperatures (210–375 °C). The biocrude oil yield significantly increased from 7.04% (210 °C) to 23.32% (290 °C) as the temperature increased, and decreased to 21.07% when further increased to 375 °C. A carbon recovery of 11.03–38.69%, and a hydrogen recovery of 7.77–25.61% were achieved in the biocrude oil. Hydrogen (27.87–70.94%) and nitrogen (74.56–81.76%) were effectively recovered in the aqueous phase. GC–MS, HPLC, TGA and FT-IR analysis indicated that major organic compounds in the biocrude oil were interestingly similar between 210 °C and 270 °C. The identified compounds included hydrocarbons, esters and carboxylic acid. The calculative yields of biocrude, hydrogen, methane and biochar reached 7.04–23.32, 0.07–0.29, 7.12–12.08 and 3.01–22.42 t/100 t cornstalks, respectively.