Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Effects of temperature and solvent on hydrothermal liquefaction of the corncob for production of phenolic monomers

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) process is a promising direction for the conversion of waste biomass into valuable chemicals/fuels. Optimization of the process parameters for HTL of biomass has been the research scope in recent years. The study aims to examine the effects of process variables such as the effect of temperature, the role of solvents: water (H2O), methanol (CH3OH), and ethanol (C2H5OH) on hydrothermal liquefaction of the corncob biomass. Hydrothermal liquefaction has been carried out at temperatures of 260, 280, and 300 °C with a reaction holding time of 15 min. The maximum bio-oil yield was obtained (38.0 wt%) at 280 °C in the presence of H2O, whereas in the case of CH3OH and C2H5OH solvents, the maximum bio-oil yield was 18.67 wt.% and 16.83 wt.% at 260 °C and 300 °C, respectively. The solvent efficiency in corncob liquefaction was observed as H2O ˃ CH3OH ˃ C2H5OH for bio-oil production. The obtained bio-oils were characterized in detail using GC-MS, FT-IR, and 1H NMR. From the GC-MS analysis of bio-oil, the phenolic compounds were observed to a higher degree (60%) in the case of H2O solvent than CH3OH and C2H5OH solvent (57% and 46%). Also, FT-IR analysis showed that higher aromatic functional groups present in bio-oil obtained with water solvent while liquefaction with alcoholic solvent showed higher ester functional groups. Moreover, the analysis of bio-residues indicated that the decomposition of the corncob occurred in a different way during HTL with the presence of different solvents.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Chena WH, Liu SH, Juang TT, Tsai CM, Zhuanga YQ (2015) Characterization of solid and liquid products from bamboo torrefaction. Appl Energy 160:829–835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Gan J, Yuan W, Nelson NO, Agudelo SC (2010) Hydrothermal conversion of Corncobs and crude glycerol. Biol Eng Trans 2:197–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Zhang Q, Hu JJ, Lee DJ (2017) Pretreatment of biomass using ionic liquids: research updates. Renew Energy 111:77–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Guo H, Chang Y, Lee DJ (2018) Enzymatic saccharification of lignocellulosic biorefinery: Research focuses 252:198-215

  5. Hardi F, Mäkelä M, Yoshikawa K (2017) Non-catalytic hydrothermal liquefaction of pine sawdust using experimental design: material balances and products analysis. Appl Energy 204:1026–1034

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Biswas B, Kumar AA, Bisht Y, Singh R, Kumar J, Bhaskar T (2017) Effects of temperature and solvent on hydrothermal liquefaction of Sargassumtenerrimum algae. Bioresour Technol 242:344–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Liu HM, Li MF, Yang S, Sun RC (2013) Understanding the mechanism of cypress liquefaction in hot-compressed water through characterization of solid residues. Energies 6:1590–1603

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ramirez JA, Brown R, Rainey TJ (2018) Techno-economic analysis of the thermal liquefaction of sugarcane bagasse in ethanol to produce liquid fuels. Appl Energy 224:184–193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Khampuang K, Boreriboon N, Prasassarakich P (2015) Alkali catalyzed liquefaction of corncob in supercritical ethanol water. Biomass Bioenergy 85:460–466

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Demirbas A (2008) Conversion of corn stover to chemicals and fuels. Energy Sources, Part A: Recovery, Utilization, and Environmental Effects 30:788–796

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Zhou D, Zhang S, Fu H, Chen J (2012) Liquefaction of macroalgae Enteromorphaprolifera in sub-/supercritical alcohol: direct production of ester compounds. Energy Fuel 26:2342–2351

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Liu Z, Zhang FS (2008) Effects of various solvents on the liquefaction of biomass to produce fuels and chemical feedstocks. Energy Convers Manag 49:3498–3504

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Gan J, Yuan W (2013) Operating condition optimization of corncob hydrothermal conversion for bio-oil production. Appl Energy 103:350–357

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Durak H (2019) Characterization of products obtained from hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass (Anchusa azurea) compared to other thermochemical conversion methods. Biomass Conversion Biorefinery 9:459–470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Singh R, Balagurumurthy B, Bhaskar T (2015) Hydrothermal liquefaction of macro algae: effect of feedstock Composition. Fuel 146:69–74

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Yu J, Paterson N, Blamey J, Millan M (2017) Cellulose, xylan and lignin interactions during pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass. Fuel 191:140–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Biswas B, Krishna BB, Singh R, Kumar J, Bhaskar T (2016) Slow pyrolysis of pine wood: effect of CO2 and N2 atmosphere. J Energy Environ Sustain 2:7–12

    Google Scholar 

  18. Li R, Li B, Yang T, Xie Y, Kai X (2014) Production of bio-oil from rice stalk supercritical ethanol liquefaction combined with the torrefaction process. Energy Fuel 28:1948–1955

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Via BK, Adhikari S, Taylor S (2013) Modeling for proximate analysis and heating value of torrefied biomass with vibration spectroscopy. Bioresour Technol 133:1–8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Zhang Z, Zhu M, Zhang DA (2018) Thermogravimetric study of the characteristics of pyrolysis of cellulose isolated from selected biomass. Appl Energy 220:87–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Yan HL, Zong ZM, Zhu W-W, Li ZK, Wang YG, Wei ZH, Li Y, Wei XY (2015) Poplar liquefaction in water/methanol co-solvents. Energy Fuel 29:3104–3110

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Chen Y, Wu Y, Hua D, Li C, Harold MP, Wang J, Yang M (2015) Thermochemical conversion of low-lipid microalgae for the production of liquid fuels: challenges and opportunities. RSC Adv 5:18673–18701

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Yang C, Jia L, Chen C, Liu G, Fang W (2011) Bio-crude oil from hydro-liquefaction of Dunaliella salina over Ni/REHY catalyst. Bioresour Technol 102:4580–4584

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Wang Y, Wang H, Lin H, Zheng Y, Zhao J, Pelletier A, Li K (2013) Effects of solvents and catalysts in liquefaction of pinewood sawdust for the production of biocrude oils. Biomass Bioenergy 59:158–167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Mullen CA, Strahan GD, Boateng AA (2009) Characterization of various fast-pyrolysisbio-oils by NMR spectroscopy. Energy Fuel 23:2707–2718

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kosa M, Ben H, Theliander H, Ragauskas AJ (2011) Pyrolysis oils from CO2 precipitated Kraft lignin. Green Chem 13:3196–3202

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Biswas B, Singh R, Kumar J, Khan AA, Krishna BB, Bhaskar T (2016) Slow pyrolysis of prot, alkali and dealkaline lignins for production of chemicals, Bioresour. Technol 213:319–326

    Google Scholar 

  28. Cao L, Zhang C, Chen H, Tsang DCW, Luo G, Zhang S, Chen J (2017) Hydrothermal liquefaction of agricultural and forestry wastes: state-of-the- art review and future prospects. Bioresour Technol 245:1184–1193

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Gollakota ARK, Kishore N, Gu S (2018) A review on hydrothermal liquefaction of biomass. Renew Sust Energ Rev 81:1378–1392

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Liua H, Ma M, Xie X (2017) New materials from solid residues for investigation the mechanism of biomass hydrothermal liquefaction. Ind Crop Prod 108:63–71

    Article  Google Scholar 

  31. Barbier J, Charon N, Dupassieux N, Loppinet-Serani A, Mahé L, Ponthus J, Courtiade M, Ducrozet A, Quoineaud AA, Cansell F (2012) Hydrothermal conversion of lignin compounds. A detailed study of fragmentation and condensation reaction pathways. Biomass Bioenergy 46:479–491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  32. Kang SM, Li XL, Fan J, Chang J (2011) Classified separation of lignin hydrothermal liquefied products. Ind Eng Chem Res 50:11288–11296

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Roberts VM, Stein V, Reiner T, Lemonidou A, Li X, Lercher JA (2011) Towards quantitative catalytic lignin depolymerization. Chem Eur J 17:5939–5948

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Song Q, Wang F, Cai J, Wang Y, Zhang J, Yu W, Xu J (2013) Lignin depolymerization (LDP) in alcohol over nickel-based catalysts via a fragmentation–hydrogenolysis process. Energy Environ Sci 6:994–1007

    Article  Google Scholar 

  35. Pińkowska H, Wolak P, Złocińska A (2011) Hydrothermal decomposition of xylan as a model substance for plant biomass waste-hydrothermolysis in subcritical water. Biomass Bioenergy 35:3902–3912

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Lee J, Yang X, Choa SH, Kim JK, Lee SS, Tsang DCW, Ok YS, Kwon EE (2017) Pyrolysis process of agricultural waste using CO2 for waste management, energy recovery, and biochar fabrication. Appl Energy 185:214–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Uchimiya M, Orlov A, Ramakrishnan G, Sistani K (2013) In situ and ex situ spectroscopic monitoring of bio-char’s surface functional groups. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 102:53–59

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Wang Z, Coa J, Wang J (2009) Pyrolitic characteristics of pine wood in a slowly heating and gas sweeping fixed-bed ractor. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 84:179–184

    Article  Google Scholar 

  39. Shaabana A, Sea SM, Mitan NMM, Dimina MF (2013) Characterization of biochar derived from rubber wood sawdust through slow pyrolysis on surface porosities and functional groups. Proc Eng 68:365–371

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Usman ARA, Abduljabbar A, Vithanage M, Ok YS, Ahmad M, Ahmad M, Elfaki J, Abdulazeem SS, Al-Wabel MI (2015) Biochar production from date palm waste: charring temperature induced changes in composition and surface chemistry. J Anal Appl Pyrolysis 115:392–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgment

The authors thank the Director, CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, for his constant encouragement and support and AcSIR for granting permission to conduct this research work at CSIR-IIP. Bijoy Biswas thanks CSIR, New Delhi, India, for his Senior Research Fellowship (SRF). The authors thank the Analytical Science Division (ASD) of CSIR-IIP for NMR, FT-IR, and XRD analyses.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Thermo-catalytic Processes Area (TPA), Material Resource Efficiency Division (MRED), CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (IIP), Dehradun, 248005, India

    Bijoy Biswas, Yashasvi Bisht, Jitendra Kumar, Sudhakara Reddy Yenumala & Thallada Bhaskar

  2. Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India

    Bijoy Biswas, Sudhakara Reddy Yenumala & Thallada Bhaskar

Authors
  1. Bijoy Biswas
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Yashasvi Bisht
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Jitendra Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Sudhakara Reddy Yenumala
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Thallada Bhaskar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thallada Bhaskar.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary materials

ESM 1

(DOCX 134 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Biswas, B., Bisht, Y., Kumar, J. et al. Effects of temperature and solvent on hydrothermal liquefaction of the corncob for production of phenolic monomers. Biomass Conv. Bioref. 12, 91–101 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01012-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-01012-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation