TY - GEN
T1 - Biofuel production from corn residues by thermochemical conversion
AU - Yu, Fei
AU - Hennessy, Kevin W.
AU - Deng, Shaobo
AU - Chen, Paul L
AU - Ruan, R. R
PY - 2007/12/31
Y1 - 2007/12/31
N2 - Declining fossil oil reserves, skyrocketing prices, unsecured supplies, and environmental pollution are among the many energy problems we are facing today. It is our conviction that renewable energy is a solution to these problems. The objective of this research is to study and develop thermochemical processes for converting bulky and low-energy-density biomass materials into biofuels and value-added bio-products. In our study, a Parr high-pressure-reactor was used for the hydrothermal process. Supercritical water condition was created at high pressure (374C, 22.1MPa). Corn residue was used as a model feedstock. Process variables to be studied include temperature, time, catalysts, solid loading, gas composition, and liquid composition. The products from the supercritical water assisted reactions consist of three phases: water soluble phase, heavy oil phase and gaseous phase. The yields and chemical properties of individual phases were also determined. On the other hand, a novel pyrolytic process for the recovery of fuel gas and liquid from agricultural wastes was developed. This new process is an environmental-friendly technique in which energy transfer to the waste occurs by microwave radiation; it has shown several advantages over conventional pyrolytic processes and represents a new opportunity to use pyrolysis to treat solid wastes as it overcomes the major difficulties that arise from other alternative methods.
AB - Declining fossil oil reserves, skyrocketing prices, unsecured supplies, and environmental pollution are among the many energy problems we are facing today. It is our conviction that renewable energy is a solution to these problems. The objective of this research is to study and develop thermochemical processes for converting bulky and low-energy-density biomass materials into biofuels and value-added bio-products. In our study, a Parr high-pressure-reactor was used for the hydrothermal process. Supercritical water condition was created at high pressure (374C, 22.1MPa). Corn residue was used as a model feedstock. Process variables to be studied include temperature, time, catalysts, solid loading, gas composition, and liquid composition. The products from the supercritical water assisted reactions consist of three phases: water soluble phase, heavy oil phase and gaseous phase. The yields and chemical properties of individual phases were also determined. On the other hand, a novel pyrolytic process for the recovery of fuel gas and liquid from agricultural wastes was developed. This new process is an environmental-friendly technique in which energy transfer to the waste occurs by microwave radiation; it has shown several advantages over conventional pyrolytic processes and represents a new opportunity to use pyrolysis to treat solid wastes as it overcomes the major difficulties that arise from other alternative methods.
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M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:37349017342
SN - 0841269556
SN - 9780841269552
T3 - ACS National Meeting Book of Abstracts
BT - 234th ACS National Meeting, Abstracts of Scientific Papers
T2 - 234th ACS National Meeting
Y2 - 19 August 2007 through 23 August 2007
ER -