Unsupported Ni metal catalyst in hydrothermal liquefaction of oak wood: Effect of catalyst surface modification

Liquefaction of Oak Wood Using Various Solvents for Bio-oil Production

Rapidly increasing global energy demand resulting from the growing population and worldwide development has increased the consumption of limited fossil fuel. The usage causes severe environmental deterioration by CO2 emission, which has sparked interest in finding green, renewable, and sustainable alternative sources of energy. Bio-oil, derived from several biomasses via liquefaction, is a promising candidate to replace fossil fuels. Turkey's land (27%) is covered with forested areas (consisting of mostly oak trees). Therefore, it has great potential for cheap lignocellulosic feedstock forest residues from industrial applications and harvesting. In the present study, the thermal liquefaction of oak wood particles (OWP) was performed using various solvents in addition to water, namely, ethanol, 1-butanol, and 1,4-dioxane. The experiments were carried out in a batch reactor for 1 and 2 h residence times at different temperatures (210, 240, and 270 °C). Bio-oil samples obtained at 270 °C and a 1 h residence time determined as optimum conditions were analyzed with TGA, CHNS elemental analysis, FTIR, and GC-MS. 1,4-Dioxane showed the best performance in yielding the maximum bio-oil with 51.8% at those conditions. The higher heating values of the bio-oils ranged from 22.1 to 35 MJ/kg. Phenolic groups were the predominant components of bio-oil produced from OWP, while the intensity of alcohols, ketones, and acids varied based on used solvents. Based on energy recovery calculations, the enhancement of pristine OWP's energy efficiency depended on bio-oil yield, and quality was confirmed for all solvent types (1,4-dioxane > 1-butanol > water > ethanol).

Hydrothermal Liquefaction of Lignocellulosic and Protein-Containing Biomass: A Comprehensive Review

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a thermochemical depolymerization technology, also known as hydrous pyrolysis, that transforms wet biomass into biocrude and valuable chemicals at a moderate temperature (usually 200–400 °C) and high pressure (typically 10–25 MPa). In HTL, water acts as a key reactant in HTL activities. Several properties of water are substantially altered as the reaction state gets closer to the critical point of water, which can result in quick, uniform, and effective reactions. The current review covers the HTL of various feedstocks, especially lignocellulosic and high protein-containing feeds with their in-depth information of the chemical reaction mechanisms involved in the HTL. Further, this review gives insight and knowledge about the influencing factors such as biomass pretreatment, process mode, process conditions, etc., which could affect the efficiency of the hydrothermal process and biocrude productivity. In addition, the latest trends, and emerging challenges to HTL are discussed with suitable recommendations.

Effects of hydration parameters on chemical properties of biocrudes based on machine learning and experiments

To investigate the effects of temperature and biomass concentration of Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) on chemical properties of biocrudes, machine learning (ML) was used to predict the weight of hydration parameters on the properties of biocrudes. The elemental compositions, molecular weights, functional groups, thermal degradation, molecular structure of biocrudes were studied. The optimum yield of biocrudes was 65% and the highest heat value reached up to 34.28 kJ/g, showing comparable fuel properties. It was found that the hydration temperature significantly affects the elemental components, functional groups and molecular weight and structures of biocrudes. In addition, biomass concentration also affect the functional groups and structures of biocrudes. ML results indicated that Support Vector Machine Linear Kernel method is suitable for heat value prediction.

The Role of Catalysts in Biomass Hydrothermal Liquefaction and Biocrude Upgrading

Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) of biomass is establishing itself as one of the leading technologies for the conversion of virtually any type of biomass feedstock into drop-in biofuels and renewable materials. Several catalysis strategies have been proposed for this process to increase the yields of the product (biocrude) and/or to obtain a product with better properties in light of the final use. A number of different studies are available in the literature nowadays, where different catalysts are utilized within HTL including both homogeneous and heterogeneous approaches. Additionally, catalysis plays a major role in the upgrading of HTL biocrude into final products, in which field significant developments have been observed in recent times. This review has the ambition to summarize the different available information to draw an updated overall picture of catalysis applied to HTL. The different catalysis strategies are reviewed, highlighting the specific effect of each kind of catalyst on the yields and properties of the HTL products, by comparing them with the non-catalyzed case. This allows for drawing quantitative conclusions on the actual effectiveness of each catalyst, in relation to the different biomass processed. Additionally, the pros and cons of each different catalysis approach are discussed critically, identifying new challenges and future directions of research.

Hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulose for value-added products: Mechanism, parameter and production application

Abundant, environmentally friendly, and sustainable lignocellulose is a promising feedstock for replacing fossil fuels, and hydrothermal liquefaction is an effective technology to convert it into liquid fuels and high-value chemicals. This review summarizes and discusses the reaction mechanism, main influence factor and the production application of hydrothermal liquefaction. Particular attention has been paid to the reaction mechanism of the structural components of lignocellulose, i.e., cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. In addition, the influence factors including types of lignocellulose, temperature, heating rate, retention time, pressure, solid-to-liquid ratio, and catalyst are discussed in detail. The limitations in the hydrothermal liquefaction of lignocellulose and the prospects are proposed. This provides deep knowledge for understanding the process as well as the development of advanced products from lignocellulose.