TY - JOUR
T1 - Diesel blends produced via emulsification of hydrothermal liquefaction biocrude from food waste
AU - Summers, Sabrina
AU - Yang, Siyu
AU - Watson, Jamison
AU - Zhang, Yuanhui
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a subcontract from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (Project FAIN: W9132T2020005), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jonathan Baldwin Turner Graduate Fellowship, and the James Scholar Program for undergraduates. The authors thank the University of Illinois Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities and School of Chemical Sciences Microanalysis Laboratory for use of their facilities.
Funding Information:
This work was supported in part by a subcontract from the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center ( Project FAIN: W9132T2020005), College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Jonathan Baldwin Turner Graduate Fellowship, and the James Scholar Program for undergraduates. The authors thank the University of Illinois Materials Research Laboratory Central Research Facilities and School of Chemical Sciences Microanalysis Laboratory for use of their facilities.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/9/15
Y1 - 2022/9/15
N2 - Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising method for producing biocrude oil from wet biowaste. However, the complex composition of the HTL biocrude has several undesirable qualities, including high viscosity, total acid number (TAN), oxygen and nitrogen heteroatom content, and lesser higher heating value (HHV) in comparison to petroleum fuels. This study investigated the production of diesel blends and their fuel quality by emulsification of HTL biocrude with the aid of a block copolymer surfactant through centrifugation and ultrasonification. Four emulsion treatment variables were considered: biocrude fraction, surfactant fraction, retention time, and RPM (rotations per minute) for centrifuge or temperature for ultrasonic. Emulsification produced fuel blends with better HHV, viscosity, and TAN in comparison to HTL biocrude oil, and high solubility levels were achieved with surfactant addition and increased retention time. Maximum biocrude solubilities of 65.43 and 75.67 wt% were obtained for centrifugation and ultrasonification, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest HHV of centrifuge and ultrasonic emulsions was 45.39 and 45.73 MJ/kg, respectively. Emulsification led to viscosities as low as 5.91 and 6.06 mm2/s for centrifuge and ultrasonic samples, respectively. The TAN of emulsions were much lower than the biocrude: 14.18–41.31 and 16.22–50.31 mg KOH/g for centrifugation and ultrasonification, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, combustion characteristics, and thermal properties gave further insight into the fuel quality of the emulsions and any deviations from the predicted HHV, viscosity, and TAN fuel properties, as well as comparison to ASTM specifications for biodiesel blends. The results show that emulsification of HTL biocrude could be an efficient and economical pathway for producing renewable diesel blends.
AB - Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a promising method for producing biocrude oil from wet biowaste. However, the complex composition of the HTL biocrude has several undesirable qualities, including high viscosity, total acid number (TAN), oxygen and nitrogen heteroatom content, and lesser higher heating value (HHV) in comparison to petroleum fuels. This study investigated the production of diesel blends and their fuel quality by emulsification of HTL biocrude with the aid of a block copolymer surfactant through centrifugation and ultrasonification. Four emulsion treatment variables were considered: biocrude fraction, surfactant fraction, retention time, and RPM (rotations per minute) for centrifuge or temperature for ultrasonic. Emulsification produced fuel blends with better HHV, viscosity, and TAN in comparison to HTL biocrude oil, and high solubility levels were achieved with surfactant addition and increased retention time. Maximum biocrude solubilities of 65.43 and 75.67 wt% were obtained for centrifugation and ultrasonification, respectively. Meanwhile, the highest HHV of centrifuge and ultrasonic emulsions was 45.39 and 45.73 MJ/kg, respectively. Emulsification led to viscosities as low as 5.91 and 6.06 mm2/s for centrifuge and ultrasonic samples, respectively. The TAN of emulsions were much lower than the biocrude: 14.18–41.31 and 16.22–50.31 mg KOH/g for centrifugation and ultrasonification, respectively. Thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, combustion characteristics, and thermal properties gave further insight into the fuel quality of the emulsions and any deviations from the predicted HHV, viscosity, and TAN fuel properties, as well as comparison to ASTM specifications for biodiesel blends. The results show that emulsification of HTL biocrude could be an efficient and economical pathway for producing renewable diesel blends.
KW - Biocrude oil
KW - Biofuel upgrading
KW - Diesel blend
KW - Emulsification
KW - Food waste
KW - Hydrothermal liquefaction
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U2 - 10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124817
DO - 10.1016/j.fuel.2022.124817
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85132413358
SN - 0016-2361
VL - 324
JO - Fuel
JF - Fuel
M1 - 124817
ER -