Carmina Reyes Plascencia
Universidad de la República, Uruguay
Title: Hydrothermal liquefaction of eucalyptus: Effect of reaction conditions on product distribution fenton system
Biography
Biography: Carmina Reyes Plascencia
Abstract
Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) is a process of interest to produce biofuels from biomass, specially biomass with a high moisture content, since feedstock does not need to be dried. In HTL process, biomass is subjected to temperatures between 250ºC and 550ºC and high pressure (5-30 MPa) during short residence times in aqueous medium. Th e HTL products are: Gas, biocrudes which are not soluble in water, water soluble organics (WSO) and a solid rich in carbon known as hydrochar. Th is work presents the effect of reaction conditions on product distribution of HTL using Eucalyptus globulus. Th e reaction was carried out in a Parr 4575 reactor of 0.5 L capacity. Th e temperatures studied were 300ºC and 350ºC with reaction times of 0 and 15 min and biomass: liquid medium ratio of 1:1 or 1:6 using an aqueous solution of K2CO3 1M as catalyst. All the tests were made at a pressure corresponding to the water vapor pressure at reaction temperature plus the pressure of gas produced during reaction. The gas phase was recovered and analysed by gas chromatography. Th e other products were separated and quantifi ed in order to calculate its yield. Th e results show that the studied reaction conditions have infl uence in the product distribution, allowing to maximize the yield for each phase by selecting the appropriate reaction parameters.