TY - JOUR
T1 - Development of a mobile, pilot scale hydrothermal liquefaction reactor
T2 - Food waste conversion product analysis and techno-economic assessment
AU - Aierzhati, Aersi
AU - Watson, Jamison
AU - Si, Buchun
AU - Stablein, Michael
AU - Wang, Tengfei
AU - Zhang, Yuanhui
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to acknowledge financial support from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign Student Sustainable Committee (SSC), and the National Science Foundation [NSF CBET 17- 44775].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021
PY - 2021/6
Y1 - 2021/6
N2 - The purpose of the present work is to investigate the feasibility of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) on food waste using a mobile pilot scale reactor and assess its techno-economic potential as a renewable energy technology that can be commercialized in the future. A 35 L pilot scale reactor (0.15 Gal·min−1, 300 °C, and 60 min retention time) resulted in a higher biocrude oil yield than lab scale reactors (29.5 wt% vs 21.9 wt%). Biocrude oil qualities from pilot scale and lab scale HTL showed similar characteristics when comparing the elemental distribution, oil composition, and heating values. Further, techno-economic assessment (TEA) showed that the minimum selling price of the biocrude oil from a base case scenario was $3.48 per gallon gasoline equivalent (GGE). The transportation cost of the feedstock and oil product was compared between onsite and mobile scenarios of HTL reactor operation. The results demonstrated that the mobile HTL reactor was more profitable when the sources of food waste were widely distributed (more than 106 miles). Combined pilot reactor results and assessments in different scenarios could be used to assess the sustainability of the HTL process for future large-scale implementation.
AB - The purpose of the present work is to investigate the feasibility of hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) on food waste using a mobile pilot scale reactor and assess its techno-economic potential as a renewable energy technology that can be commercialized in the future. A 35 L pilot scale reactor (0.15 Gal·min−1, 300 °C, and 60 min retention time) resulted in a higher biocrude oil yield than lab scale reactors (29.5 wt% vs 21.9 wt%). Biocrude oil qualities from pilot scale and lab scale HTL showed similar characteristics when comparing the elemental distribution, oil composition, and heating values. Further, techno-economic assessment (TEA) showed that the minimum selling price of the biocrude oil from a base case scenario was $3.48 per gallon gasoline equivalent (GGE). The transportation cost of the feedstock and oil product was compared between onsite and mobile scenarios of HTL reactor operation. The results demonstrated that the mobile HTL reactor was more profitable when the sources of food waste were widely distributed (more than 106 miles). Combined pilot reactor results and assessments in different scenarios could be used to assess the sustainability of the HTL process for future large-scale implementation.
KW - Biocrude oil characterization
KW - Hydrothermal liquefaction
KW - Mobile pilot scale reactor
KW - Techno-economic assessment
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ecmx.2021.100076
DO - 10.1016/j.ecmx.2021.100076
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85101391338
SN - 2590-1745
VL - 10
JO - Energy Conversion and Management: X
JF - Energy Conversion and Management: X
M1 - 100076
ER -