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Influence of Reaction Time, Temperature, and Heavy Metal Zinc on Characteristics of Cellulose- and Wood-Derived Hydrochars from Hydrothermal Carbonization

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Abstract 

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a promising technique to convert biomass into valuable solid fuels. In this work, cellulose- and wood-derived hydrochars were synthesized under hydrothermal carbonization conditions with different temperatures (200–250 °C) and reaction times (6 h or 12 h). The content of fixed carbon in the cellulose-derived hydrochar is higher than that of the wood-derived hydrochar. Moreover, cellulose can be carbonized more easily during the HTC reaction than wood. O/C and H/C ratios of all hydrochars were similar to those of lignite and decreased with increasing reaction temperature. The composition of solids recovered after 12 h is similar at all temperatures, consisting primarily of sp2 carbons (furanic and aromatic groups) and alkyl groups. When a large amount of metal is introduced, except for part of the zinc combined with the energetic group, the remaining part will condense on the surface of the sample as zinc ions.

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All the data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Funding

This work has been performed in the framework of the HotVeGas Project supported by Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (FKZ 0327773).

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Author notes

  1. Xin Zhao and Jin Huang are the first authors and contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Microstructure and Properties of Materials (IEK2), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, 52425, Julich, Germany

    Xin Zhao & Michael Müller

  2. Research Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, 100091, China

    Jin Huang

  3. School of Optical and Electronic Information, Hua Zhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China

    Zhaonan Li

  4. School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering (Tianjin), Tianjin University, 300072, Tianjin, China

    Yao Chen

Authors
  1. Xin Zhao
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  2. Jin Huang
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  4. Yao Chen
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  5. Michael Müller
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jin Huang.

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Statement of Novelty

There is limited research which has studied the format of heavy metals in wood- and cellulose-derived hydrochar during the HTC process and the release behavior of heavy metals under high temperatures. The impact of the reaction time, temperature, and heavy metal on characteristics of productions are systematically investigated. At high temperature, the properties of hydrochars are similar to lignite-like fuel substances. The heavy metal element zinc is chosen to introduce into samples to simulate the heavy metal accumulation in biomass.

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Zhao, X., Huang, J., Li, Z. et al. Influence of Reaction Time, Temperature, and Heavy Metal Zinc on Characteristics of Cellulose- and Wood-Derived Hydrochars from Hydrothermal Carbonization. Bioenerg. Res. 16, 856–864 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12155-022-10482-6

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