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Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Tool for Waste Biomass Upgrading to Solid Bio-Fuels, Valuable Carbonaceous Materials, and Nutrients Recovery

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "A4: Bio-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2022) | Viewed by 11730

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Maurizio Volpe

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, 94100 Enna, Italy
Interests: thermochemical processes; hydrothermal carbonization; waste to energy; pyrolysis; gasification
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The continuous increase of urban population leading to the increase of energy demand and waste production is contributing to the depletion of natural resources posing to the world overwhelming challenges. It is universally accepted that only a strict application of a circular economy approach could lead to the sustainable use of natural resources and thus it is imperative to assure access to affordable, reliable, and sustainable energy for all while limiting the environmental consequences due to the massive increase of waste produced and its associated risk of management and disposal. Developing new sustainable technologies for efficient residual biomass conversion to renewable energy sources, advanced carbonaceous materials, and nutrient recovery will boost the transit toward a green economy more environmentally friendly approach while ensuring widespread access to sustainable energy and the recovery of nutrients of critical importance. In this context, hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of waste biomass is recently receiving more and more attention for its capability of conversion high moisture waste biomass (i.e., sewage sludge, agro-industrial residues, organic fraction of municipal solid waste, etc.) into valuable carbonaceous materials that could find application as solid biofuel, soil amendment, activated carbons for environmental remediation, and carbonaceous electrode materials. This Special Issue will bring together all the recent advances in the field of waste biomass upgrading via HTC and its potential applications in the use of hydrochar and liquid fraction for energy recovery and the production of bio-based valuable materials.

The focus is on the hydrothermal carbonization of waste biomass for the production of bio-based carbon materials for energy applications (bio-fuels, energy storage materials, electrodic materials) and the production of activated carbons for environmental remediation and recovery of nutrients (phosphorous and nitrogen, in particular).

The aim is to provide a state-of-art overview of knowledge of the field of residual biomass conversion via HTC to produce valuable carbon-based materials and nutrients (P, and N).

Dr. Maurizio Volpe
Guest Editor

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • waste biomass
  • solid biofuels
  • hydrothermal carbonization
  • activated carbon
  • environmental remediation
  • nutrients recovery.

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 2338 KiB  
Article
Hydrogen Generation from Wood Chip and Biochar by Combined Continuous Pyrolysis and Hydrothermal Gasification
by Bingyao Zeng and Naoto Shimizu
Energies 2021, 14(13), 3793; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14133793 - 24 Jun 2021
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 4288
Abstract
Hydrothermal gasification (HTG) experiments were carried out to extract hydrogen from biomass. Although extensive research has been conducted on hydrogen production with HTG, limited research exists on the use of biochar as a raw material. In this study, woodland residues (wood chip) and [...] Read more.
Hydrothermal gasification (HTG) experiments were carried out to extract hydrogen from biomass. Although extensive research has been conducted on hydrogen production with HTG, limited research exists on the use of biochar as a raw material. In this study, woodland residues (wood chip) and biochar from wood-chip pyrolysis were used in HTG treatment to generate hydrogen. This research investigated the effect of temperature (300–425 °C) and biomass/water (0.5–10) ratio on gas composition. A higher temperature promoted hydrogen production because the water–gas shift reaction and steam-reforming reaction were promoted with an increase in temperature. The methane concentration was related positively to temperature because of the methanation and hydrogenation reactions. A lower biomass/water ratio promoted hydrogen production but suppressed carbon-monoxide production. Most reactions that produce hydrogen consume water, but water also affects the water–gas shift reaction balance, which decreases the carbon-monoxide concentration. By focusing on the practical application of HTG, we attempted biochar treatment by pyrolysis (temperature of heating part: 700 °C), and syngas was obtained from hydrothermal treatment above 425 °C. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Tool for Waste Biomass Upgrading to Solid Bio-Fuels, Valuable Carbonaceous Materials, and Nutrients Recovery)
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8 pages, 850 KiB  
Article
Transformation of Sulfur during Co-Hydrothermal Carbonization of Coal Waste and Food Waste
by Pretom Saha, Nepu Saha, Shanta Mazumder and M. Toufiq Reza
Energies 2021, 14(8), 2271; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082271 - 18 Apr 2021
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2778
Abstract
Co-hydrothermal carbonization (Co-HTC) is an emerging technology for processing multiple waste streams together to improve their fuel properties in the solid product, known as hydrochar, compared to the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of those individual streams. Sulfur is considered one of the most toxic [...] Read more.
Co-hydrothermal carbonization (Co-HTC) is an emerging technology for processing multiple waste streams together to improve their fuel properties in the solid product, known as hydrochar, compared to the hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of those individual streams. Sulfur is considered one of the most toxic contaminants in solid fuel and the combustion of this sulfur results in the emission of SOx. It was reported in the literature that, besides the fuel properties, Co-HTC reduced the total sulfur content in the hydrochar phase significantly. However, the transformation of different forms of sulfur has not yet been studied. Therefore, this study investigated the transformation of different forms of sulfur under the Co-HTC treatment. In the study, the Co-HTC of food waste (FW) and two types of coal wastes (middle bottom (CW1) and 4 top (CW2)) were conducted at 180 °C, 230 °C and 280 °C for 30 min. Different forms of sulfur were measured by using elemental analysis (total sulfur), and a wet chemical method (sulfate sulfur and pyritic sulfur). The organic sulfur was measured by the difference method. The results showed that a maximum of 49% and 65% decrease in total sulfur was achieved for CW1FW and CW2FW, respectively, at 230 °C. Similar to the total sulfur, the organic sulfur was also decreased about 85% and 75% for CW1FW and CW2FW, respectively. Based on these results, a sulfur transformation mechanism under Co-HTC treatment was proposed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Tool for Waste Biomass Upgrading to Solid Bio-Fuels, Valuable Carbonaceous Materials, and Nutrients Recovery)
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Review

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14 pages, 1591 KiB  
Review
Process Water Recirculation during Hydrothermal Carbonization of Waste Biomass: Current Knowledge and Challenges
by Antonio Picone, Maurizio Volpe and Antonio Messineo
Energies 2021, 14(10), 2962; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14102962 - 20 May 2021
Cited by 56 | Viewed by 3867
Abstract
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is considered as an efficient and constantly expanding eco-friendly methodology for thermochemical processing of high moisture waste biomass into solid biofuels and valuable carbonaceous materials. However, during HTC, a considerable amount of organics, initially present in the feedstock, are found [...] Read more.
Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is considered as an efficient and constantly expanding eco-friendly methodology for thermochemical processing of high moisture waste biomass into solid biofuels and valuable carbonaceous materials. However, during HTC, a considerable amount of organics, initially present in the feedstock, are found in the process water (PW). PW recirculation is attracting an increasing interest in the hydrothermal process field as it offers the potential to increase the carbon recovery yield while increasing hydrochar energy density. PW recirculation can be considered as a viable method for the valorization and reuse of the HTC aqueous phase, both by reducing the amount of additional water used for the process and maximizing energy recovery from the HTC liquid residual fraction. In this work, the effects of PW recirculation, for different starting waste biomasses, on the properties of hydrochars and liquid phase products are reviewed. The mechanism of production and evolution of hydrochar during recirculation steps are discussed, highlighting the possible pathways which could enhance energy and carbon recovery. Challenges of PW recirculation are presented and research opportunities proposed, showing how PW recirculation could increase the economic viability of the process while contributing in mitigating environmental impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Tool for Waste Biomass Upgrading to Solid Bio-Fuels, Valuable Carbonaceous Materials, and Nutrients Recovery)
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