Integrated bagasse utilization system based on hydrothermal liquefaction in sugarcane mills: theoretical approach compared with present practices

Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Sugarcane bagasse is used to produce bioenergy in sugar mills and export excess energy as electricity to the community. Researchers have investigated the production of high-energy bio-oil and hydrochar from bagasse using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) on a laboratory scale. However, the energy efficiency of the HTL integrated bagasse utilization system at the industrial level is unknown, especially compared with present practices of baggage utilization. Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the theoretical energy utilization of an HTL integrated bagasse utilization system compared with conventional bagasse utilization systems. A new bagasse utilization system was modeled and combined with HTL. We used data from published articles and experiments to analyze the model. We simulated the model with different bio-oil and hydrochar yields and four levels of heat recovery from the HTL final products. The results show that the novel process could exceed electricity export rate compared with the conventional system, with high bio-oil and hydrochar yield at 23% heat recovery level. Further results show that the HTL integrated system with high bio-oil and hydrochar yields and 75% heat recovery presented an electricity export benefit, which was above 170% higher than that of the existing method in ideal conditions when using high-moisture bagasse. Finally, further research should develop high-efficiency heat recovery systems, environmentally friendly HTL product separation techniques, and direct combustion of bio-oil and hydrochar to realize this concept for improving the energy utilization of sugarcane mills.

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Abbreviations

BUS1 :

Existing bagasse utilization system

BUS2 :

Hydrothermal liquefaction integrated bagasse utilization system

EE:

Electricity export

HHV:

High heating value

HTL:

Hydrothermal liquefaction

YC :

Yield configurations

DCM :

Dichloromethane

ηCHP :

Combined efficiency of cogeneration (decimal)

A :

Ash content (decimal)

B :

Bix level (decimal)

BP :

Bagasse percentage (decimal)

c :

Specific heat of bagasse (kJ/(kg °C))

C i :

Specific heat of the ith feedstock component (kJ/(kg °C))

CP :

Sugarcane processed (kg)

E bh :

Energy requirements for bagasse heating (MJ/t-cane)

E C1 :

Energy available from the cogeneration of BUS1 (MJ)

EE1 :

Electricity exported from BUS1 (MJ)

EE2 :

Electricity exported from BUS2 (MJ)

E HTL :

Energy requirements for HTL of wet bagasse (MJ/t-cane)

E l :

Energy loss at HTL (MJ/t-cane) (i.e., assumed 25% of the sum of Ebh and Ew)

E P :

Energy required for material pump (MJ/t-cane)

E R :

Energy required for separation of bio-oil (MJ/t-cane)

E U :

Electricity used to process sugarcane (MJ)

E w :

Energy required to heat the water (MJ/t-cane)

HHV hp :

Higher heating value of dry HTL product (bio-oil or hydrochar) (MJ/kg)

HHV p :

Predicted high heating value based on Ash and Brix free conditions (kJ/kg)

H u :

Heat used to process sugarcane (MJ)

LHV b :

Low heating value of bagasse (kJ/kg)

LHV hc :

Low heating value of hydrochar (MJ/kg)

LHV bo :

Low heating value of bio-oil (MJ/kg)

LHV hp :

Low heating value of HTL product (bio-oil or hydrochar) (MJ/kg)

m :

Dry weight of bagasse per t-cane (kg)

M :

Moisture content of bagasse (decimal)

m i :

Weight of ith feedstock component (water or bagasse) (kg)

Q :

Recoverable heat from the HTL product (kJ)

T e :

Environment temperature (°C)

T f :

Maximum approachable temperature of the feed at the end of the heat exchanger (°C)

Y hc :

Yield of hydrochar (kg)

Y bo :

Yield of bio-oil (kg)

ΔT :

Temperature difference (°C)

M hp :

Moisture content of HTL products (bio-oil or hydrochar) (decimal)

EEB :

Electricity export benefits (%)

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Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan

    Thilanka Ariyawansha

  2. Division of Mechanization Technology, Sugarcane Research Institute, Uda Walawe, Sri Lanka

    Thilanka Ariyawansha & Dimuthu Abeyrathna

  3. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Tofael Ahamed & Ryozo Noguchi

Authors
  1. Thilanka Ariyawansha
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  2. Dimuthu Abeyrathna
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  3. Tofael Ahamed
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Correspondence to Ryozo Noguchi.

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Ariyawansha, T., Abeyrathna, D., Ahamed, T. et al. Integrated bagasse utilization system based on hydrothermal liquefaction in sugarcane mills: theoretical approach compared with present practices. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-020-00958-w

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Keywords

  • Biomass
  • Bioenergy
  • Bio-oil
  • Hydrochar
  • Sugarcane
  • System