Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks

Medina-Ganem, Luisa F.; Valencia-Espinoza, Neali; Bautista-Peñuelas, Eduardo; Medina-Ganem, Raul E.; Vega-Rios, Alejandro; Peña-Cruz, Manuel I.; Bandala, Erick R.; Quevedo-Castro, Alberto; Pacheco-Álvarez, Martin; Rodriguez-Narvaez, Oscar M.

doi:10.3390/pr14081200

This is an early access version, the complete PDF, HTML, and XML versions will be available soon.

Open AccessArticle

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks

by

Luisa F. Medina-Ganem

¹,

Neali Valencia-Espinoza

¹

,

Eduardo Bautista-Peñuelas

²

,

Raul E. Medina-Ganem

³,

Alejandro Vega-Rios

⁴

,

Manuel I. Peña-Cruz

²

,

Erick R. Bandala

⁵,

Alberto Quevedo-Castro

⁶,

Martin Pacheco-Álvarez

^7,8,*

and

Oscar M. Rodriguez-Narvaez

^1,*

¹

Dirección de Investigación y Soluciones Tecnológicas, Centro de Innovación Aplicada en Tecnologías Competitivas, Calle Omega 201, León 37545, Guanajuato, Mexico

²

Unidad Aguascalientes, Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica, A.C. (CIO-Secihti), Calle Prol. Constitución 607, Fraccionamiento Reserva Loma Bonita, Aguascalientes 20200, Aguascalientes, Mexico

³

Departamento de Ingenierías, UNITEC Campus Leon, Blvd. Juan Alonso de Torres Pte. 1041, Jardines de Los Naranjos, San Jose Consuelo, León 37200, Guanajuato, Mexico

⁴

Centro de Investigación en Materiales Avanzados, SC, Miguel de Cervantes #120, Chihuahua 31136, Chihuahua, Mexico

⁵

DASCO Inc., 9000 E. Nichols Ave., Suite 205, Centennial, CO 80112, USA

⁶

Faculty of Earth and Space Sciences, Autonomous University of Sinaloa, Culiacan 80040, Sinaloa, Mexico

⁷

Departamento de Química-DCNE, Universidad de Guanajuato, Cerro de la Venada s/n, Pueblito de Rocha, Guanajuato 36040, Guanajuato, Mexico

⁸

Tecnológico Nacional de México, Instituto Tecnológico Superior de Guanajuato, Carretera Estatal Guanajuato-Puentecillas Km. 10.5, Guanajuato 36262, Guanajuato, Mexico

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Processes 2026, 14(8), 1200; https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14081200

Submission received: 12 February 2026 / Revised: 14 March 2026 / Accepted: 8 April 2026 / Published: 9 April 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Agro-Food Waste Applying Sustainable Processes)

Download Versions Notes

Abstract

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of agricultural waste is a promising waste management technique. However, the use of different raw materials may produce hydrochars with varying efficiencies, both in yield and application, and environmental impacts, due to differences in composition and required processing conditions. To understand the influence of biomass type and acid-assisted HTC conditions, this study used sugarcane and agave bagasse to produce functionalized hydrochars and evaluated them for the removal of Reactive Orange 84; an azo dye used in the textile industry. Material characterization was performed using FT-IR, TGA, BET, and XRD analyses. In addition, a life cycle assessment was conducted to evaluate environmental impacts associated with hydrochars produced using H₂SO₄ at concentrations of 0.2 and 0.5 M. TGA and XRD results indicate that agave bagasse hydrochars (HBA) retain more crystalline lignocellulosic structures, whereas sugarcane bagasse hydrochars (HBS) exhibit predominantly amorphous structures after HTC. FT-IR analysis confirmed the presence of –SO₃H functional groups; however, HBA samples showed greater availability of these groups with increasing acid concentration. Adsorption experiments and LCA results demonstrated that the most favorable treatment, in terms of emission reduction and dye removal, was agave bagasse functionalized with 0.5 M H₂SO₄, achieving 75.7% mass yield and 94.5% dye removal.

Keywords: hydrothermal carbonization; functional acid modification; agave bagasse; sugarcane bagasse; lignocellulosic biomass; LCA; dye adsorption

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Medina-Ganem, L.F.; Valencia-Espinoza, N.; Bautista-Peñuelas, E.; Medina-Ganem, R.E.; Vega-Rios, A.; Peña-Cruz, M.I.; Bandala, E.R.; Quevedo-Castro, A.; Pacheco-Álvarez, M.; Rodriguez-Narvaez, O.M. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks. Processes 2026, 14, 1200. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14081200

AMA Style

Medina-Ganem LF, Valencia-Espinoza N, Bautista-Peñuelas E, Medina-Ganem RE, Vega-Rios A, Peña-Cruz MI, Bandala ER, Quevedo-Castro A, Pacheco-Álvarez M, Rodriguez-Narvaez OM. Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks. Processes. 2026; 14(8):1200. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14081200

Chicago/Turabian Style

Medina-Ganem, Luisa F., Neali Valencia-Espinoza, Eduardo Bautista-Peñuelas, Raul E. Medina-Ganem, Alejandro Vega-Rios, Manuel I. Peña-Cruz, Erick R. Bandala, Alberto Quevedo-Castro, Martin Pacheco-Álvarez, and Oscar M. Rodriguez-Narvaez. 2026. "Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks" Processes 14, no. 8: 1200. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14081200

APA Style

Medina-Ganem, L. F., Valencia-Espinoza, N., Bautista-Peñuelas, E., Medina-Ganem, R. E., Vega-Rios, A., Peña-Cruz, M. I., Bandala, E. R., Quevedo-Castro, A., Pacheco-Álvarez, M., & Rodriguez-Narvaez, O. M. (2026). Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks. Processes, 14(8), 1200. https://doi.org/10.3390/pr14081200

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Menu

Comparative Life Cycle Assessment of Acid-Activated Hydrochar Under Different Feedstocks

Abstract

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI